Last summer I read a book about hospitality by Steve Wilkins called Face to Face. Heading into the end of Fall, I finished a book on the American revolution. Both books called out to me that 1) feasting in America was killed and 2) it was quintessential to the human soul. So as an introvert, I needed to revive that. I know, y’all don’t think I am an introvert and neither do the 26 people I invited into my house over the course of Twelvetide.
Now, if you know much about me, come October I am itching to get all the Christmas decor out, start shifting most of my outfits towards red, Santa hats start popping up daily, and candy canes… well… I have a thing for candy canes. Large candy canes. I have always loved Christmas and everything that came with it. Growing up, that was large family parties on Christmas Eve and Day. Lots of cousins, huge Christmas trees, laughter, joy, and merriment. And then 2020 came and all of that ended.
The last four years we wandered— and wondered— our way through the holidays trying to find ourselves and our family’s traditions. That’s not to say that five years of Christmas were dead or forgotten. They were bright, noisy, and filled with laughter. But they were small and it never felt like Christmas. They ended before they started, the burst of Christmas— after the wait of Advent— was more a fizzle. It felt good for a short time and then we lurched back into work and onto a new year. And that wasn’t Christmas.
You see, Advent is a period of waiting and anticipation. Four weeks to culminate in… something. That something wasn’t supposed to be a half a day of ripping paper and eating pie. It was meant to be bigger. And longer. Not even the two very large days I grew up with, though usually followed with a week with the in-laws or a week of downtime with the kiddos as an adult. Historically that was the Twelve Days of Christmas.
I don’t want to bore you with the details… those details where talked about over warm wassail and candlelight for nearly two weeks. The gist: twelve days of feasting, twelve days of Christmassing, twelve days of music, joy, laughter, merriment, and gaeity. In the words of Chesterton, the best way to shorten winter is to prolong Christmas. During the darkest of months, the shortest of days, the coldest of times, gather ‘round the table and eat, drink, and celebrate the coming of Christ.
And so we did. We opened our home for seven nights— with one day break— and fed 26 people. We were going for twelve before getting sick on the 9th day and rescheduling the end of our celebration. Those seven nights were amazingly Christmas. Alive, to say the least. There were rules:
- my wife wasn’t the host, buzzing around and not present
- this wasn’t Grandma’s massive Christmas feast, this was a gathering of friends new and old; big crockpot of food, sides, and desserts with fresh wassail nightly, but low key and low cost
- it was a family affair for ours and theirs, this means crafts, activities, and Christmas movies for the kids while the adults roared around the table with conversations across all topics.
And so our eight foot long, hand-made table was the center of life for seven nights and we made merry our Christmastide. Our kids cackled with laughter with new and old friends in the other room, our plates flowed with great meals— cranberry BBQ pork, spaghetti, and carnita tacos— and we spread the joy of Christmas beyond our family in a way we’ve never been able to do. And we’ll do it again. We have twelve more people coming the weekend to finish off the celebration and next year we will be filling out even more of the nights.
The thing we heard every single night— as the pot emptied with sadness— was that the wassail was the best of the night. Don’t hear wrong, homemade BBQ sauces and shredded carnitas were a hit, but the wassail pot was the warm hug we all needed in the midwinter and it hit everyone just right. So I end this write up with recipe, in the internet recipe tradition of following a long post.
- 4 apples cut in half and cored
- 1 orange
- 1 TBSP whole cloves
- 2 quarts apple cider
- juice 1 lemon
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 star anise
- 6 allspice berries
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Slice the apples in half and scoop out the core. Fill the hole with sugar and place in a 9×13 baking pan.
- Poke the whole cloves into the orange and place into the baking dish with the apples.
- Place 1” of water in the bottom of the pan and place the pan into the oven to roast for 40 minutes.
- While the fruit is roasting, pour the apple cider into a large stock pot.
- Add remaining spices, lemon juice, and the honey to the cider.
- Allow to barely simmer while the fruit finishes roasting (When the fruit is done roasting, add it to the pot as well).
- Keep heating on low heat to keep warm while you enjoy!
We usually transfer the wassail to a crockpot, but keeping it on a stove will fill you house with a beautiful, crisp aroma.
Christmas continues until February 2nd. It’s not over. It has just begun. And this season, we began it with a loud bang.