What are your family traditions, and how do they involve jelly?
A few months ago, five clever people wrote essays answering this question and are now in the running for a family reunion to be awarded in the form of a check for $20,000 plus a $1,000 check to go toward a special reunion planner. The finalists and their recipes are posted on the Smucker’s Spreading Traditions website. Read them, see how it’s done, try the recipes (the chicken salad is on my list) and watch for more contests! if there’s one thing I learned during my visit to Smucker’s, it’s that they do a lot of neat promotions all across their brands, so keep your eyes open.
In the meantime, I’m hosting a little giveaway here (courtesy of Smucker’s, of course) and giving away a very nice gift basket. You don’t even have to write an essay!
For a chance at a gift basket, just “like” Smucker’s on Facebook, then post a comment here in the comment section telling me one of your family traditions — jelly need not be involved, but if it is then that’s awesome. I’ll pick one random comment as the winner. Deadline is midnight Friday and I will contact the winner Saturday. Good luck! Prize includes:
– A nice bakset
– A variety of Smucker’s fruit spreads
– Cloth-bound Recipe book (it’s blank — you add your own)
– Gingham-patterned set of spreaders
By the way, our family tradition is that every year (ideally) one parent takes a child on a parent/child or grandparent/child vacation. I started this tradition when Fuzz was about 2 1/2 by taking her to Chicago. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it. The plane was delayed and Fuzz threw a wild and crazy tantrum at the airport. I could tell she was getting sick, so I called Todd to come get us and we delayed our trip. A few years later we tried again and had a wonderful time in the Windy City, complete with American Girls, lots of shopping and good food. Todd carried on the tradition by taking Fuzz to Connecticut alone, and my dad carried on the tradition by taking my cousin fly fishing in Alaska. Twice. Want a fun vacation? Find a kid and go. Anyhow, Fuzz and I are in the midst of planning our next getaway, which is why I’m mentioning this. That, plus I think one parent/one child getaways are a great tradition in any family. I always loved them as a kid. But back to jelly….
Tell me a family tradition!
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Wow, maybe the first comment of hundreds!! One of the traditions I started was to bake Chanukah sugar cookies each year from a special recipe belonging to my friend’s mom. She was featured in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune for the cookies and her other baking endeavors about 10 years ago.
BTW, Smucker’s Red Plum Jam makes delicious and beautiful garnet- colored topping on cheesecake!
When I was a kid, my mom and I always made thumbprint cookies with jelly in the middle – plum jelly!
This is something my daughter and I have been doing since we began taking her 2 girls to the movies about 8 years ago. We go to quite a lot of movies together and when we get back to the car the first thing one of us does is yell out “I want to go first.” And then begins the process of the four of us telling which was our very favorite part of the movie. It’s amazing how different they can all be or sometimes they’re almost all the same—you just never know!! It’s aways so much fun.
Every Sunday we make biscuits and slather them in butter and raspberry jam.
Years ago my sister and I started making “holiday” treats with my nieces the day after Thanksgiving while their Mom battled the crowds at the mall. Over the years we’ve made gingerbread houses and boys/girls, sugard cookies, a fruity pebbles house/igloo (!) and last year it was cupcakes decorated with fondant (I had just taken a fondant class). The girls have already put in their request for next year – cookies with flooded icing – and it has exapnded to include my nephews’ wives. It’s a fun tradition that we look forward to each year.
One of our traditions is to make the exact same dinner every time i go home to visit my parents!
One our family traditions is to make my grandma’s blackberry jam cake every year for Christmas. It is a way to keep her part of the holidays now that she has passed away.
When we were kids, we used to fight over who got to make breakfast on Saturday mornings. Whoever got up the earliest usually got the opportunity. I used to make lots of delicious goodies when it was my turn, some of my favorites were sticky buns and jam-filled muffins. Even now, Saturday is our day for “good” breakfast. ha ha.
One tradition every year is that my mom, sister and I always bake our Christmas cookies the first Saturday in December. And we always bake the same varieties! I look forward to it every year.
One family tradition that we have revived is singing the Twelve Days of Christmas at my mother’s house on Christmas Eve. We all take a different part and often the words get “changed” a bit and we have lots of laughs! Now the grandchildren and great-grandchildren take part – so much fun!
We have “uncle norman day” the day after Christmas. It is when my mom’s side of the family gets together and exchanges presents. My uncle norman grills steaks and makes his famous double layer pumpkin pie!
My family is French Canadian, and every year, around Christmas, our whole family (coursins, kids, elders) gets together at my grandma’s house to have meat pies (with ketchup)!
Pajamas on Christmas Eve……and I’m loving reading everyone else’s traditions, because I need some new ideas!
Already like Smucker’s on Facebook. One family tradition we do every Christmas is make gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve with the boys.
We always watch The Family Stone during Christmastime. Liked Smucker’s on FB.
I liked Smuckers on FB. A family tradition: every Christmas Eve my family gets together to spend the evening together and open gifts. We’ve been doing this as long as I can remember.
One of my family traditions is to bake a boatload of cookies for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Our family tradition is to make gingerbread houses and decorate cookies together before Christmas.
One of our family traditions is to leave our shoes out for St. Nickolaus on the night of Dec. 5. When we wake up on December 6, he has left the kids chocolates and fruit. December 6 is also my youngest son’s birthday so he gets extra treats before his bday gifts.
One of our family traditions is taking an annual trip together. It’s harder now that we’re grown with families of our own, but we always try to fit it in.
On of my favorite family traditions is that we Celebrate out house-iversary, the day we moved into our house! We usually do a project around the house (painting, fixing up something we’ve been putting off) and enjoy a meal at home!
Every year around Labor Day, my husband’s extended family meets for a family reunion at a nearby state park. I always make the favorite cookies of my husband and his siblings. It is a recipe passed down from their departed mother.
I already like Smucker’s on FB
We don’t do anything on Valentine’s Day, but a few days beforehand, we do a chocolate walk downtown. We’re really looking forward to it happening tomorrow night.
Every year, during the December holidays, I always make thumbprint cookies filled with a variety of Smucker’s jams, jellies and preserves.
I like Smuckers on FB
We bake sugar cookie hearts and a chocolate annisette heart cake for valentine’s day every year.
We always have homemade french toast on Saturday mornings and make monkey bread on Christmas morning!
We go out for birthdays. The birthday person always gets to pick the restaurant!
Every year my sister and I celebrate our birthdays together over a meal, in addition to a big family celebration. It keeps them special!
On Christmas Eve, our family eats rice that’s been cooking in milk all day, topped with lingon berry juice, cinnamon or more milk. One almond is thrown in the pot, and whoever gets it has good luck for the next year. It’s a Norwegian tradition.
One of our favorite family traditions for my brother and I growing up was on Valentines day when my Grandma who lived on the next street over would bake her delicious Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies and right before she took them out of the oven she would call my Dad to come get them and she would pack them up right out of the oven and when he got back they were still warm and gooey!!!
)
Absolutely Delicious and I can still taste them like it was Yesterday:)
We looked forward to that special treat every year!
I now do special traditions like that for my grand kids in hopes that they will have some of the same kind of Wonderful Memories
I liked Smuckers on FB…
We always cook lobster on Christmas Eve to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We also watch silly movies and just relax as a family, before the busy-ness of the next day.
One tradition we have is to make sweet and sour meatballs using red current jam for every holiday!
When I was growing up and had a bad dream my dad would bring me into the kitchen and make me peanut butter and jelly on Ritz crackers.
Oh, that is so cute!!!
one family tradition was making pancakes on sunday. If we had any leftovers, throughout the day, we’d put a little bit of jelly in the middle of a pancake and fold it taco like for a quick snack
my in-laws put peanut butter on both breads, then they put jelly on both breads and put them together. that’s a lot of pb and jelly.
watching the oscars every year
Liked on FB as sarah linette, and making jam thumbprint cookies during the holidays is one of ours!
soluckyducky atgmail dot com
At our house, one of our favorite traditions is cake for breakfast on birthdays. It’s a sweet way to start the day!
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