Reflecting on Holiday Memories
Many families have a tradition of exchanging a few gifts on Christmas Eve – kind of like an appetizer before the big day. My family did not follow this tradition. All gifts were saved for Christmas Day – except one year. One particular Christmas Eve, after we returned from midnight mass, my mom handed me a gift and explained that I could open it now because I would need it in the morning. You see, my job every Christmas for the previous few years was to whip egg whites for my mom’s famous eggnog. Prior to this particular Christmas, I had always whipped the egg whites by hand. The gift I got to open on this particular Christmas Eve was our families’ first hand-mixer.
My annual Christmas morning task became much easier after that. My mom and I would chat while she worked on her eggnog, and I blended the egg whites with a bit of sugar. She taught me how to look for the stiffened peaks of the whites to tell that they were done. Afterward, I would take the two beaters to the sink to wash them but somehow most of the meringue ended up in my mouth instead of down the sink.:)
It is interesting that as I look back at Christmases past, I only remember a few gifts that I received as a child. But I remember quite vividly working next to my mom, talking about school and friends, and together gently taking the meringue out of the mixing bowl and floating it on top of the eggnog like beautiful puffy clouds.
Over the years, I lost my sweet tooth and do not appreciate eggnog’s taste as much as I once did. However, every few winters, I will try my hand at making my mom’s eggnog when I’m feeling nostalgic or in need of some cozy memories. This Christmas seems like an appropriate time.
I wish all of our students, faculty and staff, and families a wonderful holiday season. I hope you find the time to reflect on memories of the past and the opportunity to create some new ones.
I wanted to share my mother’s famous eggnog recipe with you. However, my mom never actually used a recipe nor did she measure any of the ingredients. After scouring the internet, this is the closest that I have found.
Danny Vogelman
Head of School
