Okay, so I made truffles, too. But only because I was asked by our local supper-hour news program to do a segment on easy gifts from the kitchen. A producer there is working on a series of short pieces about celebrating Christmas without all the stress. Since I am pro-Christmas and anti-stress, I was happy to add my voice.
In case you don't know, truffles are perhaps the most simple things you can make to bring to a Christmas party, to wrap as gifts, or to scarf on the chesterfield while watching Little Women (the June Allyson/Liz Taylor version), if that's your holiday scene (it's been mine). I wrote a column on truffles a couple of Christmases ago, and I used the same recipe, only I subbed in regular whipping cream for the coconut cream. Truffles require all of 5 minutes of melting and stirring the night before you plan to make them, then you let the ganache (aka "chocolate chips, cream, and booze") set up overnight. The next day, you get to enjoy the therapeutic process of rolling little balls of chocolatey goodness in cocoa powder. It's like modeling clay you can eat. Awesome. Then you pack them in pretty jars or little tins or boxes or whatever, and wait for the marriage proposals to roll in.
The producer, Paula, and I spoke a fair bit about how we celebrate Christmas, and mused on how to avoid the chaos and anxiety that mark the season for so many people. There are such mixed messages: on one hand, we're supposed to keep it simple, but on the other, "keep it simple" seems to be media code for "spend lots of money on piles of stuff that is supposed to simplify Christmas, but which will either break or take up half your basement for 11 months a year." And what's the sense in that?
One thing that we've done in our family is to implement a rule on gift-giving. The motto is "made, found, handed down," and all gifts from one family member to another must fit one of these criteria. "Made" can be made by the giver, or made by someone at a craft fair, bought in person or online from a craftsperson, whatever, it just has to be made by someone's two hands, rather than industrially manufactured. "Found" means found second-hand, at a thrift shop, jumble sale, on ebay, on kijiji, but something that has already had a life of its own. And "handed down" is obvious: it's a positive spin on the much-maligned "regifting," where the giver hands on something they own, whether it's something sentimental, or simply something they've just never had any use for.
To me, this is more appropriate than simply placing a spending limit on people. Spending limits tend to yield a lot of cheap plastic novelty crap. I don't mind dropping a little extra money, when I can, to support a local businessperson or an independent crafter. I make many of my gifts myself, because it's something I enjoy, but I would never try to impose this rule on anyone else. If you're not into crafts or baking, you're probably not going to be any more into it when you have a dozen presents to make and a deadline fast approaching. What I can't make myself, I'm happy to buy, but I'm picky about where I buy it, and from whom.
On that topic: if you're in St. John's, Riddle Fence will have a table at the Anna Templeton Centre Tea and Sale tomorrow and Saturday. Journal subscriptions are, ahem, a fantastic holiday gift: they don't take up much space, they're readable again and again, and when you support small journals you're putting money in the pockets of very hardworking writers (who, let's be honest, don't tend to make a whole lot of cash as it is). And it counts as "made," because Hubby C and many of our lovely friends put it together. So, you know, just sayin'.
In case you don't know, truffles are perhaps the most simple things you can make to bring to a Christmas party, to wrap as gifts, or to scarf on the chesterfield while watching Little Women (the June Allyson/Liz Taylor version), if that's your holiday scene (it's been mine). I wrote a column on truffles a couple of Christmases ago, and I used the same recipe, only I subbed in regular whipping cream for the coconut cream. Truffles require all of 5 minutes of melting and stirring the night before you plan to make them, then you let the ganache (aka "chocolate chips, cream, and booze") set up overnight. The next day, you get to enjoy the therapeutic process of rolling little balls of chocolatey goodness in cocoa powder. It's like modeling clay you can eat. Awesome. Then you pack them in pretty jars or little tins or boxes or whatever, and wait for the marriage proposals to roll in.
The producer, Paula, and I spoke a fair bit about how we celebrate Christmas, and mused on how to avoid the chaos and anxiety that mark the season for so many people. There are such mixed messages: on one hand, we're supposed to keep it simple, but on the other, "keep it simple" seems to be media code for "spend lots of money on piles of stuff that is supposed to simplify Christmas, but which will either break or take up half your basement for 11 months a year." And what's the sense in that?
One thing that we've done in our family is to implement a rule on gift-giving. The motto is "made, found, handed down," and all gifts from one family member to another must fit one of these criteria. "Made" can be made by the giver, or made by someone at a craft fair, bought in person or online from a craftsperson, whatever, it just has to be made by someone's two hands, rather than industrially manufactured. "Found" means found second-hand, at a thrift shop, jumble sale, on ebay, on kijiji, but something that has already had a life of its own. And "handed down" is obvious: it's a positive spin on the much-maligned "regifting," where the giver hands on something they own, whether it's something sentimental, or simply something they've just never had any use for.
To me, this is more appropriate than simply placing a spending limit on people. Spending limits tend to yield a lot of cheap plastic novelty crap. I don't mind dropping a little extra money, when I can, to support a local businessperson or an independent crafter. I make many of my gifts myself, because it's something I enjoy, but I would never try to impose this rule on anyone else. If you're not into crafts or baking, you're probably not going to be any more into it when you have a dozen presents to make and a deadline fast approaching. What I can't make myself, I'm happy to buy, but I'm picky about where I buy it, and from whom.
On that topic: if you're in St. John's, Riddle Fence will have a table at the Anna Templeton Centre Tea and Sale tomorrow and Saturday. Journal subscriptions are, ahem, a fantastic holiday gift: they don't take up much space, they're readable again and again, and when you support small journals you're putting money in the pockets of very hardworking writers (who, let's be honest, don't tend to make a whole lot of cash as it is). And it counts as "made," because Hubby C and many of our lovely friends put it together. So, you know, just sayin'.
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