Prompt: Name and describe several of your favorite foods during Christmas and New Year’s as a child.
As we remember our favorite foods of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays our initial responses indicate that Oleibollen was our favorite. It’s probable that this was what we enjoyed on New Year’s Eve and/ or New Year’s Day. We enjoyed different culinary delights on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
The consensus about oliebollen is that it was the one time brown sugar was not rationed at mealtime. I remember tearing the oliebollen into pieces to strategically pinch as much sugar as possible into each piece; it was also helpful if they were warm and fresh because the moisture of the oliebollen kept sugar on it. A lingering question in the responses was whether oliebollen was the only item we enjoyed for that meal. If so, I wonder how many oliebollen each of us ate.
Mama would stir up two pots of batter, adding raisins and apple pieces to the mix, and set them by the furnace register so the dough would rise while she would be in the barn to feed the young calves, which was one of her barn chores. It was a source of pride to her and she insisted on frying the oliebollen herself even as the girls were very willing to do it. A few of us probably requested oliebollen for our birthday supper as well. Click on the following link for more information and images of this delightful holiday memory: Oliebollen.
The Christmas meal(s) on the 24th at home and on Christmas Day at the Troyers (Uncle Abner and Aunt Grace) often featured ham. This was a welcome break from the daily staple of boiled potatoes and roasts or meatballs. Mashed potatoes with gravy or scalloped potatoes, sliced very thin, were eventually enjoyed as well. Ham probably was one of the special gifts we received from family friends in Wooster and at Oak Grove Mennonite Church. This was a tangible welcome over the years for an immigrant family.
Fruit and nuts were an additional treat given to our family during these holidays. One can almost imagine peeling a juicy orange for dessert or snack. Howard and Ethel Yoder brought oranges in a box decorated with holiday wrapping; they probably gave one for each one of us. The Yoders also gave us stollen. Stollen is fruit bread with nuts and spices. Ruth Welty may have provided us with a fruitcake solid with nuts and a variety of dried fruits. Additionally, there were apples and grapes; I’m assuming the apples may have been cored and cut up for us and the grapes de-stemmed and served in a bowl.
The sisters also recall making Chex Party Mix and fudge. The Chex Mix was a welcome change from the usual Sunday morning dry cereal options of Corn Flakes Cheerios and Rice Krispies. The fudge was enjoyed until Papa (our father) complained about toothaches.
Do any of my siblings recall the licorice we received in the Christmas package from our Opa and Oma? If memory serves me well it was true licorice meaning one could actually experience the licorice on one’s taste buds. It’s my bias but I much prefer the salty bitterness of licorice tabs or buttons over the sugar-laden rubbery texture of licorice one can easily find in a grocery store in the States.
Beun Family Connections 
One response to “Christmas and New Year’s Day Foods”
I do recall receiving a package from Oma en Opa with the true salty bitterness licorice, but not sure how many years this gift arrived.
The younger sisters were the ones that initiated the Chex Party Mix and fudge; maybe as a result of treats that we had received from Oak Grove family and/or neighbors. This was one small way to begin the assimilation into the American cultural traditions.
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