Tea Rings

My grandmother Scott made tea rings, pictured below.  (Now a days, most people call them cinnamon rolls.) She gave them as gifts; she sold them at the bake table during church fundraisers.

Once upon a time, I spent Friday nights with my grandmother at her small farm and come Saturday morning would awaken to the house smelling sugar-y and cinnamon-y.  Usually, she was done making her tea rings by the time I got out of bed.  (I'm a late riser, you see.) After I ate cold cereal for breakfast, I would be assigned the cookie detail.  By the time I was ten, I could whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies like nobody's business.  But that's another story.

The photo above is how Nanny made her tea rings.  Very old school, isn't it.  I remember that she had a pair of super sharp stainless steel scissors that she used to snip the dough around the ring before baking. (You could never use those scissors for anything else other than her tea rings.)  After letting them cool, she would drizzle the ring with a little powdered sugar icing and meticulously quarter maraschino cherries to place on each semi-sliced portion.  We were not allowed to eat the maraschino cherries either because they were too expensive or so she insisted.  It was a real treat if she spared one, believe me.

I typically make mine like this: new school.  I think this style is popular right now.  Beside, it's easier.  (I don't have those stainless steel scissors to snip the dough; I have to use a serrated knife, which just isn't as precise.)

In the spirit of Nanny, we are giving the old school tea ring to the neighbors. Christmas morning we will enjoy the new school version, remembering Nanny all the while.  Merry Christmas, everyone.  

The Great Christmas Debate

To send a Christmas card? Or not send a Christmas card?

This internal debate ping-pongs around my head.

It's one more thing to do.  Stamps cost money.  Stop being stingy. It's a stamp, for crying out loud.  You already bought the cards.  Just do it. 


Then today, I get a card from a long lost friend, Meredith. Over the years and two relocations later, I lost her address.  The only time we connect is via a Christmas card.  Last year, she diligently sent me one detailing the latest happenings with her two kids and husband, but there wasn't a return address on the envelope.  So I couldn't send her one in reply.  

Sending Christmas cards is kinda old fashioned in this day and age of digital everything.  What with constant updates on Twitter and FB, e-cards and paying bills on-line, who actually mails anything anymore except credit card companies soliciting for business.

Here's an interesting perspective: most of you know that I work at a major retail bookstore (that shall remain nameless).  Ten years ago, when I first started, we had three to four tables dedicated to holiday cards during this time of year.  Now, we have just one.  Yeah, dear gentle reader, one table.  The cards are getting more expensive and the box doesn't contain as many cards either.  So sending a card is a fading custom.

Back to my point: today I open a card from our long lost friend Meredith to see the smiling faces of her two children. Simply beautiful.  I was overjoyed.  Really, I was, because old fashioned or not, Christmas cards are the one time of year where I communicate with friends long separated by distance.  Especially the friends who are not on FB.  

This time around Meredith's envelope had a return address, which I've noted in my old fashioned address book.  The debate is settled, as you can probably guess.  I'll be sending out those Christmas cards.