The Four F's of Christmas

By By Robert St. John / food columnist
Dec. 17, 2003
There are two types of families during the holiday season: those who eat dinner on Christmas Eve and those who save the big meal for Christmas day.
I come from a Christmas Eve dining tradition. My wife and her family ate the holiday meal on the following day. Marriage is about compromise, give and take, share and share alike, in sickness and in health, till death do us part (read: Battle it out and argue early on until one of you gets his or her way). Ten years ago, I won the when-do-we-eat-the-big-Christmas-meal discussion. That single victory might represent the last decision I made in my marriage.
Christmas is full of compromises, especially in a new marriage. Childhood holiday traditions are ingrained in our memories. The when-to-have-dinner discussion wasn't nearly as contentious as the icicles-on-the-tree argument. It is a dispute that is still alive today.
I come from a family that blanketed the Christmas tree with icicles. We loaded our tree with so many icicles that one could still find stray strands of the tiny silver-metallic threads in our house and yard as late as July. My wife is adamant in her disdain for icicles on the tree.
As children, my brother and I took great delight in throwing large clumps of icicles on our tree. Our across-the-street neighbor, Jimmy McKenzie, was an icicle man, although not a wind-up-and-try-to-hit-the-angel-on-top-of-the-tree icicle man. Jimmy carefully placed icicles on his tree one by one, following a carefully drawn out Christmas tree decoration diagram that was developed years ago and is strictly followed each year. As a result, the McKenzie children always crossed the street at tree-decorating time to hurl icicles with us.
I still enjoy throwing large clumps of icicles on the tree. My wife continues to plead her case for an icicle-free tree. Luckily for the nation's icicle manufacturers, I have a daughter and son who like to throw icicles, too. In a family democracy, three votes beat one vote at least two-thirds of the time. Today our tree has icicles on it (make that two decisions I have won over the years).
However, in the greater scheme of Christmas, it doesn't matter what time of day, or even which day, the family eats a meal. It doesn't matter how the tree is decorated or how the garland is hung. Icicles or not, there is a greater reason for the season.
There are a set of tenets that I hold dear. I call them the Four F's: Faith, Family, Friends and Food. To me, these are the most important things in life, and whenever anyone can combine all four in one setting, the memories that are created are magical.
It is the combination of one or more of the Four F's that make holiday occasions memorable. As I look back to my childhood, my greatest memories, holiday or not, were always centered on two or more of the Four F's coming together at once.
Faith, family, friends and food during the holidays families draw closer, friends drop by for an unexpected and welcomed visit, sometimes bearing gifts of food.
The street where I grew up in Hattiesburg, Bellewood Drive, was filled with great people and loaded with outstanding cooks. Our house was always overflowing with Christmas tins filled with cookies, seasoned nuts, breads and pastries.
Jimmy McKenzie might be the original icicle miser, but he makes a mean Bloody Mary and his wife, Mary Virginia (one of the greatest cooks I have known), makes the world's greatest sweet rolls and a Milk Punch that is known far and wide.
The holiday season is rife with opportunities to combine the Four F's. I hope you are able to do so, and often. Merry Christmas.
Mary Virginia McKenzie's Milk Punch
1⁄2 cup brandy
2⁄3 cup Bourbon
1 tablespoon vanilla
100 gratings nutmeg
2 cups half &half
1 cup simple syrup*
Combine all in a quart container. Shake well. Keep refrigerated.
*Equal parts of sugar and water heated until sugar is dissolved.
Jimmy McKenzie's
Bloody Marys
1 can V-8 (46 oz)
1 fifth of vodka
41⁄2 ounces lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1⁄4 cup Worcestershire
10 drops Tabasco
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Stir well.
Robert St. John is the executive chef/owner of the Purple Parrot Caf and Crescent City Grill in Hattiesburg and Meridian. He can be reached at robert@nsrg.com.