Growing up as a kid, Christmas just seemed magical. It was a time for holiday breaks, time together as a family, holiday decorations, and great food. It was also a time for family traditions. From seeing who could wake up first on the Friday after Thanksgiving to blast the first Christmas song of the year on the living room stereo, to stockings on Christmas Eve, to Christmas dinner as a family. There were so many things to look forward to that made the season special, almost sacred.
One such treat was Grandma’s popcorn balls. They were a simple, yet tasty treat that you could just munch on forever… or at least until they were gone. I remember one incredible year; Grandma gave each grandchild a paper grocery bag filled with popcorn balls. They were so tasty and probably didn’t last as long as they should have.
But time goes by and traditions change or are lost completely. As Grandma got older, the popcorn balls stopped being made, and then with her, faded into memory. Over the years, other special traditions have just sort of stopped. Instead of this magical and sacred day, Christmas was becoming just another holiday. Christmas had always been such a special time of year that this didn’t sit well with me. It was most notable a few years ago. I brought my, then, fiancé over to my family for Christmas dinner. My parents lovingly served a vegetable lasagna, which is great for Sabbath meals, but was a far cry from the traditional Christmas dinners that we had had for so many years.
That next year, I started asking for some of our old traditions back. While some have changed with time, we have brought many traditions back. My wife and I both share a deep love for Christmas and have discussed at length which traditions we want to keep and hold dear. We have merged some traditions or just fallen in love with each other’s.
We have even tried to recreate Grandma’s popcorn balls and were moderately successful. I plan to keep improving this skill to bring back this family favorite and have it as a recipe to pass on.
There are so many special things to enjoy and to create over the Christmas season. I know that in keeping these family traditions as something to enjoy and pass on, we keep the sacredness of the holiday and our family.
I hope you have plenty of traditions that you enjoy around the holidays, and if not, maybe you need to become a tradition-keeper for your family.
Grandma’s Popcorn Balls
Ingredients:
10 quarts of popcorn prepared in air-popper (1/3 cup corn = 2 quarts popped)
1 small package “red” Jello
1 cup sugar
1 cup light Karo Syrup
½ teaspoon butter
½ cup peanuts
Instructions:
Step 1: Pop 10 quarts of popcorn and set aside in very large mixing bowl. (Recommended 24 Quart Stainless Steel)
Step 2: Mix together in a microwavable pan or on the stove.
– 1 small package “red” Jello
– 1 cup sugar
– 1 cup light Karo Syrup
– ½ teaspoon butter to prevent boil over
Step 3: Heat the mixture to 250 degrees (about five minutes in microwave).
Step 4: Spray coat hands with Pam.
Step 5: Pour hot syrup slowly over popcorn while stirring rapidly and vigorously to mix syrup thoroughly over kernels.
Step 6: Quickly shape into 3-inch balls (makes 20-30 balls).
Step 7: Let cool and wrap in plastic wrap.
Chris Kaatz is the Men’s Dean at La Sierra University and the Keeper of Christmas Traditions.