Invite an Ancestor for Christmas Dinner

My Grandmother

Yep, you heard me right. I'm challenging my readers to invite an ancestor to the table this year for Christmas.

Here's how:

1. Choose an ancestor that you find interesting or amusing or compelling. You might want to choose one from another country (I'll tell you why in a minute)

2. Look for a photograph of the ancestor you chose. If you have one, print it off and put it in a nice frame (or a cheap frame from Wal-Mart if you prefer!). No photo? Don't worry, you can print a family group sheet of a pedigree chart from you back to your ancestor. Frame whatever you print.

3. If you're lucky and you have a recipe from that ancestor you're good to go, otherwise choose a dish that represents your ancestor.

Now you're ready to invite your ancestor to dinner. All you need to do is choose a recipe that represents a dish from your ancestor's country of origin, then make it for the Christmas dinner. Put the dish on the table with your framed photograph or pedigree chart or family group sheet, and explain to family why you've made this particular dish for the meal. In other words, who are you honouring?

Spotted Dick

I'm going to invite my grandmother who was born in England in 1894. I happen to have her mother's recipe for Spotted Dick, an English favourite of years ago. So I'm going to make it for the Christmas Buffet table. I've made it before (once) so it will be fun to make again. I'm pretty sure none of my siblings or other family have ever had it.

I'm also going to put out some of the treasures my grandmother left me to round out the experience with more details. 

You can talk about your ancestor and about the dish you made. It should be a great way to introduce some genealogy to your Christmas Table!