Holidays - The Christmas Tree Picnic Tradition

Hello! Don't think I'll be able to blog tomorrow, so I'm doing an extra one today instead. 

As shown earlier in the week, we got our Christmas tree over the weekend. As soon as it was decorated our daughter asked if we were going to have our Christmas tree picnic, and of course I answered yes. This little tradition was begun before she was even born, so she's grown up with it. 

I don't even remember anymore where I came up with the idea - probably read about it in some women's magazine. Basically it means sitting on the floor around the Christmas tree to eat a meal there. It probably had been suggested as a fun activity to do with kids, but even though we were childless at the time, I made my husband do it. (He isn't crazy about sitting down on the floor to eat, but he goes along with the plan). 

We always use these:

This is a set of placemats and napkins that my mom had sewn for us for our first Christmas after getting married. 

The dinner may vary but it's always something that's easy to serve and eat. So yesterday for our "picnic" we had pizza. 

We have a tradition for the Christmas tree picnic dessert as well:

I always make sure I have a batch of Russian Teacakes on hand for the picnic. Why these? For one thing, the recipe states that they keep well and so can be made weeks ahead of the holiday season. They're quick to make. And all three of us like these equally well, which is rare for our varied food tastes!


I got the ceramic Christmas tree serving tray after my mother-in-law died; it had been in her things. The back of the tray denotes that it is a hand-painted item from Italy. I seem to recall that my sister-in-law told me that her mom had won it in a raffle at the church's holiday bazaar.


And that's the story of our Christmas tree picnic tradition! I hope that you and yours have some special holiday traditions of your own as well.