Share YOUR Christmas Traditions!

What are YOUR favorite Christmas Traditions? Are you trying something new this year? Let me know. That might become my new favorite tradition!

Speaking of traditions: did you get new pajamas at Christmas when you were a child? Think back! When I was growing up, my sister and I always had Christmas pajamas. Usually flannel. My children had matching Christmas pajamas when they were small.

As you can see, for the last 4 years, we've revived that matching pajama tradition with our extended family! This year, based on input from my husband that he has enough pajama pants, I'll be deviating just a little from "pajamas." Rest assured we will still all be matching, though! What I'm doing a surprise, so I will share photos of my "tweaks" after Christmas!

If you'd like to read more about my family traditions, one of my stories was just featured in the Chicken Soup Daily Newsletter! It is also featured in the recently published book Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Gift of Christmas: A Special Collection of Joyful Holiday Stories (Sponsored Link.) Click here to read "My Nativities."  A second story I wrote,  "Santa Hats," is also in the book.

I wrote a post for the Peach State Moms Blog about 10 of our family's favorite Christmas Traditions. You may want to check that out. Also look at the Tradition Place Pinterest Boards by clicking HERE!

Also, PLEASE like my new Tradition Place Facebook page! I have set up the page in anticipation of the launch of my Tradition Place website within the next few months. (It will be a resource for finding and sharing traditions!) You may sign up to be notified of the launch of www.TraditionPlace.com by clicking on the web address.

Remember to share your favorite traditions and the recipes you absolutely MUST make for your family at Christmas, below, or on the Tradition Place Facebook Page. Feel free to post links to favorite recipes and traditions from your blog or Pinterest Boards. Hope you have a Happy December and Blessed Christmas!

Banana Pineapple Chocolate Chip Pancakes!

Banana Pineapple
Chocolate Chip Pancakes! 

NOTE: I am in the process of launching a new website that will be a resource for finding and sharing traditions. Please sign up to be notified when it launches! Thank you! www.traditionplace.com

Most families have favorite recipes. Many are foods they enjoy eating often. Some are traditionally reserved for specific events. There are usually "traditional foods" for various holidays, as well as foods that are "expected," and "always served," at events like birthdays, tailgate parties, or other family gatherings. I know people who continue to serve foods they don't really like for holidays, just because their families have always served them, and they are continuing the tradition!

Our family has a number of recipes that have evolved into "traditions." One is my Banana Pineapple Chocolate Chip Pancakes. I created the recipe about twenty years ago, to try to replicate the taste of my family's favorite muffins. I have served these pancakes to my family, my kids’ friends, and for breakfast and brunch gatherings. I often get requests to make them. The pancakes are good with or without syrup. They also freeze well, if there are any left! 

Plain, buttermilk, chocolate, chocolate chip, pecan, and banana pancakes are all “tried and true” pancake varieties that could become your own family's "Pancake Tradition." Savory pancakes, featuring ingredients such as bacon, ham, and pepperoni, have their own aficionados. 

I found the pepperoni pancakes below to be pretty good, and thought they’d be popular with teens who often eat pizza for breakfast. Wrong! That wasn’t the case when I tried them out on a group of teen boys, including my son! All but one kid thought they were "weird, because they didn’t taste like breakfast pancakes!" Over ten years later, kids occasionally still laughingly ask, “Remember those terrible pizza pancakes you made?” I always reply, "I thought they were good! Want to give them another try?" No takers, so far!

Making memories—even when they aren’t “perfect”--is what binds us together as families, friends, and communities. Let’s face it: grouchy relatives, funny clothes, bad hair, burned or bad holiday dishes, and all manner of other imperfect things, color our memories and weave the tapestry of our history! People who pray and play and work and laugh together are building memories and traditions that will help sustain them during difficult times. 

Please share your own traditions, traditional recipes, and blog articles about traditions, on my new "JOY on the Journey" facebook page, for possible inclusion on a new website, and upcoming book about family traditions. Recipes for Banana Pineapple chocolate Chip Pancakes, and Pizza Pancakes, are below. 

BANANA PINEAPPLE CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES

2 cups Baking mix (I use Bisquick)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1-8 oz. can crushed pineapple with juice
2 very ripe bananas mashed
1/2 cup (or more!) chocolate chips

Stir ingredients will blended. Pour 1/8 to scant 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot greased griddle. Cook until edges are dry. Turn over and cook till golden brown. 

PEPPERONI PIZZA PANCAKES

2 cups baking mix (I use Bisquick)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup chopped pepperoni
(optional:1/2 cup chopped plum tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped green pepper--I omit.)
1 can (8 ounces) pizza sauce, warmed

Combine first four ingredients, just until moistened. Fold in rest of the ingredients. 

Pour 1/8 to scant 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot greased griddle. Cook until bubbles form. Turn over and cook till golden brown. Serve with pizza sauce, and extra cheese if desired. 

Jamie is a writer, speaker, retreat planner, editor, Bible teacher, and ballroom dancer. She loves to speak to church and secular groups encouraging “Joy on the Journey.” Please check out the rest of her blog www.dancingonthejourney.blogspot.com; Jamie is in the process of launching a website that will be a resource for finding and sharing traditions. Please sign up to be notified when the blog launches: www.traditionplace.com. Follow Jamie's Pinterest Page: Tradition Place: Making Memories; and Follow Jamie's Tradition Page on Facebook.