The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-12-18

Now that Christmas is almost here, too. we
begin those immediate preparations which are
almost much fun in the doing as in the en-
joying they are DONE No good housewife
or healthy eater but is already planning that
Christmas dinner and dreaming of turkey and
mince pie and sweetmeats aplenty
Time was when Christmas dinner was many
weeks in the making and many hours in the
serving, but that was in the days before the
grocer around the corner brought even
nearer by the telephone and quick delivery
ice, and every nearby restaurant offered menu
rivaling mothers own. Today even Christmas
dinner may be procured in cans, and fortunate
ly so. Imagine modern woman in her neat
white enamel and shiny chromium plate Kitchen
cite mixing together this recipe for "shred pie"
an old English Christmas favorite: 1.-Two bushels
of flour, 20 pounds of butter geese, turkeys.
rabbits, wild ducks, woodcOcks, snipe, 4
cartridges, . meats tongues 8 curews, black
birds, pigeans!" Or even let her undertake
the days cooking with which little Sally Fair
fax of Virginia, writing in her diary in III,
credits her mother: g. Mamma made six mince
pies, and seven custards, twelve tarts one chick
ing pie, and four buildings ;. ="
When Christmas feasting in its heydey
scarcely selfrespecting but included:
"Beefe, mutton and porke,
Shred pies of the best;
Pig, veale, goose and capon,
And turkie well drest"
There was also the famous boar's head lemon
in mouth and wreathed around with rose
mary; the peacock, roasted, sewn back into its
own skin with every lovely feather in place;
generously garnished and carried in on a golden
platter with due ceremony; launches of ven-
ison, plum porrdge, frumenty and the steam
ing hot wassail drink The shred pie, unlike it's
modern descendant the mince pie. baked
in long dish, shaped like the cradle, or manger
of Bethlehem. However this lavish outlay OF
food may in the reading, make the mouth
ter, there probably in the tasting another
side to the story. Imagine the fastidiOus and
vitamne-conscious gourmand of today seated
in some huge smoky baronial hall before
dinner served up by a nondescript retinue OF
servants from mysterious dark cellars and smelly
kitchens and consisting of Is. . thrty-pound
buttered eggs, pies of carp's tongues pheasants
drenched with ambergris, and a single peacock
covered with sauce made from gravy of the
bruised carcasses of three fat wethers!"
Nevertheless, it is to this old-time cookery
that we owe many of our favorte Christmas
dishes, and at no other time of year does the
modern kitchen show such furry Of old-fash-
toned activity as now. The Christmas turkey is.
of course Americas contribution to the feast;
and is found on almost every American table
But other dishes are generally the result of a
national et least family tradition, and no
matter how convenient and how tasty food from
cans may be, there is always some treasured
recipe which must be made las mother used
to make it, in order to be worthy of the eating
on Christmas day.
Time was when one of the most important
duties of the last few days before Christmas
was to cut, bring into the house. and set up the
oh had
its sisters in the old back woodlot months ago
for this very purpose and tenderly watched over
since. Onto its fresh, fragrant branches
went homemade tapers, fancy paper cut-outs
strings of popcorn prepared with much ado by
the children themselves. Though the majority
of Christmas trees used today are grown for
that purpose ON Christmas tree farms. shipped
and made available for us at every grocery
store, and trimmed with shiny baubles whose
purchase requires a minimum of time and
thought nevertheless the sentiment with which
we set up this symbol of Christmas and glory
in it's beauty on Christmas Eve, is very old
and real one
Its glowing lights, it's shining tinsel strings,
it's sparkling colored balls, represent the age
old love has felt for warmth and light.
for the sheltered companionship of the open
hearth, for the life giving rays of the sun. In
them the Christmas tree carries on the purpose
of the old heather festival to which our mod
ern celebration in some ways corresponds, ex-
pressing their joy at the return of the winter
solstice, when the sun once more became friend
ly to men, when days commenced to lengthen
and spring was not so far away. Our modern
Christmas tree decorations are thus in one sense
merely modern symbols of the sun, descendants
Of the burning barrel and the flaming torch with
which the ancients used to worship it Martin
Luther made the first Christian use of the tree,
when he set up in his home in Germany for
his own children, little fir tree, and hung IL
with candles, like the stars, he explained to
them, which lighted the night of the Nativity
The fir tree is still regarded as the Christ
mas tree par excellence, particularly in the
northeastern and lake states, because Of its
long, spreading and springy branches and its
deep green and fragrant foliage which STAYS
fresh longer than that of almost any other type
In the western states fir, while abundant, It
is harder to reach and cut, and its place Is
largely taken by lodgepole pine and spruce.
while on the Pacific coast white fir is most
popular.
CO by Western Newspaper Union-)