My list of memorable Christmas gifts is long and oh-so-varied topped by a complete surprise of a new automobile—a station wagon—perfect for hauling my children and their friends at that point in our life.
Romantic gifts come to mind like the cigar-band wedding ring and a beautiful art book—Love, a Celebration in Art and Literature. (a grand book!)
Precious little handmade gifts from my elementary school kids—a pottery handprint, a pencil box, and a clay sculpture that started as a microphone and quickly morphed into a potato which is framed in my office today.
My Salon group and my writing group had our gift exchanges this week in festive gatherings. Thoughtful gifts from these treasured friends are now placed in their perfect spots in my home. And soon there will be the family time for giving and receiving presents despite all efforts to scale down and back.
Aside from this, I received two impressive gifts this week.
The first – I got a spinal epidural from Santa Claus!
St. Nick brought me an L4-5 spinal epidural just in time for the holidays.
Actually, a fierce five-foot female doctor, Dr. Patel, skillfully injected the steroid and the dye at Scripps in Encinitas. She was assisted by half dozen helpers, all men. A very happy team in that procedure room, which made me very happy.
And so did the pain relief that the procedure provided!
Not long after, I was introduced to Stollen.
I have taken part in more that eighty Christmases and never enjoyed this amazingly delicious treat which I purchased on a whim at Prager’s, one of my favorite bakeries in Hillcrest.
I have since gone back for five additional Stollens for various friends and family. It’s that good!
Fruit cake—I really don’t like it. But Stollen, a different story! It is a German Christmas bread chock full of dried fruit, candied peel, and almonds. It is made with a sweet, buttery yeast dough and sweet spices such as nutmeg, mace, cloves, and ginger. The oval shape, formed by folding the dough so one side slightly leaves a gap on top of the loaf is, sometimes, said to signify baby Jesus in swaddling clothes.
The tradition of making stollen goes back more than 600 years. The first official mention of stollen was in 1474, but some historians think the traditional German Christmas cake dates back as far as 1329.
Like anything, when you get into something with a fervor, you find it everywhere. Stollen is ubiquitous. I sure Amazon can deliver it to you before Christmas Eve when one tradition is to have a toasted and buttered slice with a glass of champagne. Maybe in front of the fireplace.
Oh wait…there’s Santa that night.
Just in case, you can do a Stollen search here.
I hope you have a wonderous holiday season as Christmas and Hanukkah will be celebrated at this same time on Christmas Day, which has only happened four times since 1900.
Our family brunch will feature potato latkes and stollen…and maybe some eggnog!
Have a beautiful holiday. I’ll be back before the new year begins!
Happy holidays and may you receive many more gifts and surprises.
Glad to hear you're feeling better, Auntie M! All my love to you and fam this season!