Victoria, the beautiful voice behind Playing 50's Housewife, approached me about collaborating on a 50's Christmas project- the first part of which was written earlier this month as I dug into the research I'd need to carry out the second half of my contribution to the challenge: Actually having "A Good Old Fashioned Christmas Eve".
When I'd wrote the initial post and started putting together my plans, however, I wound up having to cancel the initial ones I'd made after finding out that, despite isolating in the same house, my In-Laws, Husband, and I, wouldn't be able to actually spend Christmas on the same floor; with her Cancer-compromised immune system, and the major increase in Covid cases as the holiday season ticked on, it was too much of a risk for us to take... It was sad, but we all agreed it was necessary- and so I rearranged my plans.
Instead, my Husband and I would decorate the Christmas Tree the night before, and start the morning of Christmas Eve with a gift exchange. That was how things were done then, after all- with the tree decorated the night prior, and gifts exchanged on the Eve instead of Christmas Day. Then we'd spend some time together reading and playing games; I'd picked out several suitable ones from a few thematic 50's books, and even a Christmas story popular then to read together (With Bells On). We'd follow that up by making Stollen together, which I'd been lucky enough to find an era authentic recipe for in the Holiday Cookbook. Finally we'd finish off the night with a nice fire, and an alcoholic beverage to accompany the aforementioned Stollen- plus some light religious reading of his choice.
Unfortunately the tree decorating was done a bit earlier than intended; I'd spoken with his mother after they put up the tree, and she confessed she didn't have the energy to decorate it or take it down this year. So I volunteered my Husband and I to do it instead. I thought it'd give us the perfect opportunity to add something else to the Christmas Challenge, so I'd partially planned around it. But later that same week she had to leave for the city for her first round of immunizations after her successful Stem Cell Therapy earlier in the year. My Husband and I know how much those city appointments exhaust her, and so we elected to decorate the tree early- giving her a nice surprise to come home to after such a hard day.
My Husband also kindly reminded me at the end of the week before Christmas Eve that I'd wanted a Christmas Eve dinner as well. When I waffled on it, he nudged me into it anyways, knowing how much it had meant to me when making the initial (now cancelled) plans; there wasn't any reason we couldn't have a small one ourselves, even though it wouldn't be the Duck I'd originally wanted. And so I settled in that night with Cooking for Christmas, and its very helpful [suggested] Menus chapter, and planned us something simple: Orange Stuffed Cornish Rock Hen, Wild Rice, and Roasted Rosemary Potatoes; I'd do a Plum Pudding for Christmas Morning, as well.
I loaded up my online Walmart Grocery Cart with all the necessary supplies... And quickly realized the only feasible day off my Husband had to make the pickup was Christmas Eve itself; I'd been smart and slowly chipped away at the Stollen ingredients list since the beginning of the month, starting with non-perishable items. But this was a last minute order, and I'd gotten it in far too late to get anything earlier than that. I sent the order in anyways, though, and fervently prayed I got at least the essentials for dinner; there was no way in hell I was going into Walmart on Christmas Eve for my "marketing" in these Pandemic conditions- especially not after having already caught Covid once from a stray Homecare Nurse.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us, the day before her immunization round in the city, the doctor handling my Mother in Law's treatment aftercare had the wherewithal to perform another blood test to check for Covid antibodies. The test results came back at the beginning of Christmas Eve week just after I'd already put in the dinner's grocery order, and it was very happily announced that she was still carrying antibodies from September after all, when the whole house had contracted it; Christmas with the household was officially back on- and I wasn't about to cancel the dinner I had just planned. Especially with such a wonderful thing to celebrate now... So that night before the 1 am cutoff for order changes, into the cart went two more Cornish Rock Hens for them, and far more Oranges than I wound up needing.
Before I could blink, Christmas Eve morning finally arrived.
My Husband and I woke before sunrise- which is normal for us with his early work schedule. I made him fresh coffee, and we settled into our respective routines to do our waking up- he at his computer, and I at mine. Before long, though, it was time to pick up the grocery order, since I'd been lucky enough to get an 8 am slot; both he and I, and the teller herself, were surprised I managed to get everything on the list, top to bottom- no errors or substitutions. Our very own Christmas Miracle, apparently; nobody else in our families that we spoke to later had been so lucky.
With the groceries put away, I did some silent calculations: We wound up ding our gift exchange earlier in the month because we're both horrible at waiting to give each other gifts- two beautiful vintage brooches for me, and the new Brandon Sanderson novel for him... And we didn't have any children due to me being infertile... Because of that, we had until roughly noon before things really had to begin. So we settled in again and played a game we bought ourselves as a couple's gift for Christmas: Torchlight III; not a fitting 50's activity, but it was nice to game together for a bit.
Having too much fun exploring our new game, we overshot our timing by an hour on accident- though not by much. We still managed to begin the process of making Stollen just shortly after 1 pm; at my direction he read me the complete ingredient list for every recipe on the day's full menu as I ran around the basement gathering up all the supplies that- being the well organized housewife I am- I'd been meticulously hoarding (along with all those last minute ones I lucked out on). Then, with my basket full, it was time to get dressed.
Before going upstairs I got into the 50's housewife spirit by donning a vintage powder blue knitted sweater I snagged years ago at my favorite local Antique Mall but rarely wore (slightly later dated, at approximately 1962), a suitable-styled grey and blue floral knee length skirt, my sensible black reproduction heels, and the dainty blue stoned vintage brooch he'd just bought me for Christmas (year unknown); I finished it with a touch of my current favorite perfume (Lil' Dipper by Pinrose), but otherwise chose to skip any makeup due to a hormonally induced breakout; a baby pink full apron with white lace trim (a gift from my In-Laws last Christmas, which I've made my dedicated Baking Apron) made the outfit suitable for the current tasks in the kitchen.
Then it was upstairs for some family cooking- his parents making themselves lunch, as I covered myself in flour and my Husband chopped dried fruit; I'd done a lot of research on Stollen throughout the month, however, and there was a lot of anxiety about the recipe I was using... As it turns out, at some point between the 50's and now, Stollen has apparently changed quite a lot. As demonstrated by Binging with Babish, the modern version now contains hearty booze alongside the candied fruits, as well as a strange tube of marzipan down its center. The 1959 version provided by the Holiday Cookbook contains neither, but we trekked on with our slightly confusing older recipe, intent to be faithful to the only one I found from the era.
As the dough was proofing, I shooed him out of the kitchen for some alone time, and got started on our dinner, though- prepping the Cornish Rock Hens by slathering them in far too much Kerrygold Butter for our arteries to be comfortable, before stuffing them with an orange quarter each, and generously salting and peppering the skin. Setting them aside to rest for the next half hour on a bed of Orange and Lemon slices for a perfume, I readied a glaze of simple Orange Juice, White Vinegar, Brown Sugar, Honey, and Olive Oil for the later stages of cooking- then started on quartering potatoes; Reds, Whites, Golds, and even Purples, which I'd found by pure luck and was very excited to finally get to try after years of wishing for the chance. They were tossed in a generous amount of Olive Oil, Salt, and crushed dried Rosemary, and turned out onto baking sheets to rest as well.
With those done, everything went into the oven. A little bit of cleaning up, and a load of dishes later, and it was time for round two of the Stollen. It was turned out and let to rest as instructed, then hand shaped into two loaves as shown in the picture; the rolling pin was missing, and two loaves was better for our family as opposed to the three allotted by the recipe. I'd give the second to my In-Laws. And so I greased a baking sheet and set them to rest under saran wrap again for their final proof- which meant it was finally time for me to relax for a bit myself.
Having about 20 minutes before my next timer, I freshened up my good looks- removing all evidence of my kitchen escapades- and returned to our basement apartment to kick my feet up; at that time there were some new members waiting to be let into a Discord server that I run, and a few minor social media notifications to take care of... Again, not very 50's tasks, but I figured an exception could be made for now; all of the other more era appropriate plans were coming later in the night thanks to the last minute plan changes earlier in the week.
At the timer, it was time to start the Wild Rice for the final side of the night's dinner- as well as beginning the glazing process on the Cornish Rock Hens. Another half hour later, and dinner was out of the oven and served- and the Stollen was finally in the oven with its own countdown ticking away; with the Sewing Room still under construction, the Dining Room was unusable. So we ate together in the adjoining Living Room instead, sharing stories, laughing, and talking about everything and nothing. It was a lovely dinner- and one that we clearly sorely needed.
Around 8 pm, however, my Husband and I finally retired to the Basement again for the more personal part of the 1950's Christmas Challenge. There, armed with a box of Chocolates given to us by his parents, with our freshly baked butter and sugar drenched Stollen, and Rootbeer Floats (a delicious concoction of 1 part Rumchata and 3 Parts A&W Rootbeer- and it does have to be A&W Rootbeer), we settled in together with a fresh fire going in the fireplace.
I'd been smart about it and had my Husband bring the firewood down earlier in the day- and cleaned the fireplace out for him ahead of time- that way he wouldn't have any work to do after dinner. He thanked me for my foresight and we decided, at that point, to search for a Christmas playlist for background noise- settling on a thematic 50's one helpfully provided by youtube.
We lasted all of three songs, however, before my Husband couldn't do it anymore and agreed with a sentiment I expressed years ago (much to his surprise then): 50's music just isn't our thing- 50's Christmas music apparently even less so; though we did have to admit they were certainly more interesting, lyrically, than the nonsense we're force fed every year now, by stores who begin playing them far, far too early for anyone's sanity. It took 4 more playlists to find something we both finally agreed was acceptably festive for our tastes. In the process we cycled through at least two that began with a horrendous rendition of Silent Night which neither of us were fans of, several modern ones full of overplayed nonsense like Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls, and one that was way too Catholic for our tastes. But eventually a "Peaceful Traditional Christmas Carol Piano" compilation was finally allowed to play in the background while we wrapped gifts for Christmas Day, as his family still subscribes to gift exchanges on the Morning instead of the Eve favored in the 50's.
With all of our wrapping complete and tucked beneath the tree upstairs, we changed locations once again, moving a little bit away from the fire; this time he settled into the recliner with his Grandfather's Bible- switching to his own after a bit, since it was easier on his eyes. I sat at his feet with my head nestled against his knee, while he read every instance of the Nativity Story to me that he could find. We didn't get to read all of them however. Before long we both finally had to admit that we were far too tired (and toasty from the alcohol) to realistically function any longer. And so we turned in for the night- thus ending the Christmas Challenge.
In the end I didn't do half of the things we had planned; no thematic 50's games were played, nor rare 50's stories to read. And most of my time was spent cooking instead of with my Husband. Our Christmas Day the next morning, too, was decidedly modern- with a gift exchange with his parents around noon, followed by Christmas Roast Chili for dinner, and lots of wonderful conversation- but no Plum Pudding... Still, we both agreed this was the best Christmas we'd ever had, and there were a number of elements we appreciated about the experience.
Even though we're an interfaith couple, we both especially appreciated the night curled up with one another reading the Nativity Stories in the Bible- an element we think has sadly been lost in modern celebrations, at least here with those we've ever celebrated with, and America's decidedly capitalist takeover of practically everything. It's definitely something we think we're going to continue incorporating into our Christmas Eve traditions in the future. After all, what is Christmas, the Feast of the Nativity, without Christ himself?
Oh, and the Stollen (the 1959 version I found)? That will definitely be staying, too.
For an audio transcript of this post, you can now listen on Youtube!