Story and Recipes by Marcelle Bienvenu | Food Photography by Jim Bathie and Jo Vidrine | Location and Portrait Photography by Jo Vidrine
For me, the holiday season celebrating Christmas and the New Year begins on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Stowed Christmas gifts are ready for wrapping. My stash of ingredients to make pralines and Christmas cookies is on hand for making gifts. And I always take a few minutes to remember Christmases past.
I think of the aroma of Mama’s baked ham, the scent of the Christmas tree, and listening to Christmas carols ad nauseam. But a memory that always comes to mind is one of an early Christmas Day visitor. Charles Fuselier, who was our parish sheriff for many years and a dear friend of the family, always arrived with a carton of Camel cigarettes and a bottle of good bourbon for Papa and a pretty Christmas tin containing his wife’s famous pralines for Mama.
I loved being grabbed up by the big, tall (he was at least 6 feet 4 inches tall) man and getting a whiff of his Old Spice aftershave cologne.
Mama, with help from Tante May and Nannan (Belle), our great-aunts, was always busy in the kitchen, and the aromas of rice dressing and candied yams wafted throughout the house.
Papa Noël has arrived and Le Petit Bonhomme Janvier (the little man of January) will soon be visiting young children in parts of Acadiana come New Year’s Day, leaving a small sack filled with goodies.
I am joyous to have my nieces and nephews, their children, and their children’s children come by for visits during the holidays.
But Christmas Day in recent years is a rather quiet one, with one or two couples joining me and my husband, Rock, for a late afternoon feast at our guest house (furnished in a tropical theme and named Island Time) on Bayou Teche. This year, I have decided to be mostly traditional, with a little nod to the tropics with my Aunt Eva’s coconut cake.
The table is set with my mother’s Chantilly silverware. The Christmas-themed china is a set I purchased while on my honeymoon 35 years ago.
To begin, there will be deviled eggs perked up with pecan meal and an oyster artichoke mixture nestled in pastry shells, both served with chilled white wine. The dinner menu includes glazed ham, a wild rice dish spiked with raisins and pecans, and creamy, cheesy baked spinach. For dessert, rather than having eggnog when guests arrived, I deemed the rich, creamy concoction along with the coconut cake worthy of a sweet course with which to end our holiday repast.
Le Pet it Bonhomme Janvier
If you believe in Acadian folklore, legend tells us of Le Petit Bonhomme Janvier, the little man of January who visits the homes of good little children (and sometimes adults) on New Year’s Eve, bringing small sacks filled with oranges, pecans, candy, coloring books, and crayons.
He became my hero when we children were farmed out to Nannan’s on New Year’s Eve so Mama and Papa could have a night on the town. Nannan laid down plump quilts over the cold, hard wooden floors in her parlor and turned up the gas heaters that burned brightly, and the only other light came from her cedar Christmas tree.
We had no television then, but Nannan tuned the radio to WWL, where music was coming “live and direct” from the Roosevelt Hotel’s Blue Room in New Orleans.
Because it was a special night, we were allowed to stay up late since Nannan promised us a special treat. Then we were going to be sent off to the big four-poster beds to sleep so that Le Petit Bonhomme Janvier could “make his pass” with his goodies.
But before we were put to bed, Nannan brought us our evening repast. On a huge tray lined with her best linen napkins were coffee cups filled with steaming hot chocolate thickened with lots of marshmallows and flavored with a tinge of strong coffee and plates of golden cheese toast.
Warm and full, we were off to bed to wait for the little man who comes only after children are fast asleep. Early the next morning, hung on the posters of the beds was a colorful sack for each of us, filled with apples, oranges, mandarins, candied pecans, little dolls made of clothespins, and pralines wrapped in red cellophane tied with gold ribbons!
With our sacks and pajamas in hand, we were returned to Mama and Papa for a big New Year’s Day celebration. To this day, the tradition lives on.
