s we’ve all spent more time at home this year, in our kitchens, living rooms and backyards, we’ve found new, interesting and creative ways to fill our time. In some ways though, our new activities and pastimes – from baking bread at home to knitting to planting gardens – look a lot like the old ways of spending time. So for this holiday season, it felt appropriate to look back at some older Collierville traditions – which might just inspire some new-to-you traditions to include in your celebrations this year. Collierville has 150 years of traditions, from delicious Christmas treats to world-famous rocking horses. Thanks to the help of the Morton Museum of Collierville History, the ghost of Collierville’s Christmases past will take you through 150 years of festivities, showing off tried and true Collierville traditions to
24
TOURCOLLIERVILLE.COM
nov em be r/de c em be r 2020
make your holidays the most wonderful time of the year. The first record of Christmas in Collierville is a small photo of people gathered on the Town Square, Christmas Eve of 1892. In it, you can see men and their horses crossing the street – maybe finishing some last-minute shopping? No one can be certain what is happening, whether it was an event or just people coming and going, but it still shows that even over 100 years ago, there were still some last-minute things to do before gathering with your loved ones.
TRIED AND TRUE TREATS At one time, The Collierville Herald released a Christmasthemed paper every year with upcoming church services, events and holiday recipes. Nellie Maxwell wrote an article called “The Kitchen Cabinet” in the December 20, 1929 issue with several “old-fashioned” recipes, which had been handed down through the years. One recipe offered “Delicious pudding,” a cold dessert: “Take one pint of fine bread crumbs, soak in one quart of milk for 15 minutes. Beat together until light the yolks of five eggs, add one cupful of sugar, stir in a tablespoonful of softened butter, add a bit of grated lemon rind, two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Mix with the milk and bread and add one cupful of coconut. Bake in a pudding dish until the custard is set in the center. Test with a knife - if the knife comes out clean, it is ready to take from the oven. Cover with meringue, using the egg whites beaten
