Foodways - Anelise Lemon

My family has many food traditions; most of them related to the holidays. I will share one of the more unique ones that my family observes. Every Christmas Eve my family and I bake a birthday cake. We are a Christian family and celebrate Christmas as Jesus’ birthday. So, for as long as I can remember we have made Jesus a birthday cake. Instead of leaving out milk and cookies for “Santa”, we leave out a piece of cake and milk. When we decorate the cake we use certain colors to represent different things about our beliefs. My mother acquired this own unique baking tradition from her mother. I have not met anyone else that does this, and I enjoy celebrating what Christmas means to us with this baking tradition.