Not long after the Christmas day leftovers are all gone, it’s time to head to our South Texas ranch.
We started the ranch tradition when Nolan was playing ball. Professional baseball players are either in training or in competition from late February to late October. Children are in school from August to June. So the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day was the only time when Nolan and our sons, Reid and Reese, and our daughter, Wendy, all had nothing on their schedules at the same time.
Reid, Reese, Wendy and Nolan all enjoy deer hunting. I love being outdoors just as much. So this week became an important part of our life because we all appreciate everything to do with ranching. Today, we are fortunate to be joined in this special week by our children’s spouses and our grandchildren. And it’s not unusual for someone to bring along a friend or two.
When you have a big group for a week doing activities like working cattle or hunting, you need to plan your meals in advance. And we also ask everyone at the ranch to contribute something to the menu so no one person is always in the kitchen.
One of our newest traditions during this week is a great beef and venison chili that Reese makes. Another dish we always look forward to is an excellent tortilla soup that one of my daughters-in-law makes. But most importantly, this week is a great time for anyone with a new recipe to try out. Of the half dozen or so new recipes we sample during the week, we all get great ideas to take home to our own kitchens. If you like cooking, like all of us do, it’s almost like an extended Christmas.
We hope you enjoy these next few days with your loved ones and treasure the time with your family! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
The Ranch Week by Ruth Ryan
A Special Gift by Ruth Ryan
I’m sometimes asked what has been our most memorable Christmas. That’s a hard one to say because we were a baseball family for 27 years as Nolan traveled around the nation with his team for much of the year. So when it came to Christmas, the best gift anyone received wasn’t wrapped. It was the fact that we all spent time together.
But there is one Christmas that really stands out — and not necessarily for the right reasons. It was when our kids were younger and we were still living in Alvin and Nolan and I decided to really splurge on them.
So we bought 3-wheelers for them to drive around the ranch. I still don’t know what possessed us to do it. I remember looking out the window and seeing the kids zipping down and around the barn, then the house, next over the pastures, then around the house again.
It was an exciting Christmas for the kids to say the least, but it caused me so much worry we retired the 3-wheelers. And from that time to now, we’ve emphasized our special Christmases over our more memorable ones. I’m sure most mothers out there do the same.
Our Christmas Traditions by Ruth Ryan
Merry Christmas, everyone!
This is Ruth Ryan and I’ve asked Nolan for some space on his blog during the Christmas season to answer some questions about our family’s holiday food traditions.
When I think of true traditions, I think about growing up in East Texas. Every Christmas, my mom and dad, Ingrid and Larry Holdorff, celebrated their Scandinavian heritage with food. They invited their relatives, neighbors and fellow church members to our house for snacks and conversation. Their snacks were a smorgasbord of their native foods including smoked herring, pickled beef and Swedish breads.
It wasn’t exactly the menu a young girl growing up in Texas would have chosen. But looking back, it is so wonderful that my parents carried on centuries-old traditions of their ancestors. Another of my family’s traditions took place every Christmas morning. My dad would make Swedish pancakes using cooking techniques that he learned from his Norwegian grandmother. He’d serve them complete with imported lingonberry jelly.
Nolan’s side of the family also had great traditions. His mother, Martha Ryan, was renowned in their home of Alvin, Texas, for the pies she prepared during the holidays. People came from far and wide for a visit and a slice of pecan and pumpkin pie.
Once Nolan and I started our family, we established our family dinner on Christmas eve. Every year, I’ll prepare a beef tenderloin, but sometimes we’ll also serve ham or turkey with all the fixings. For dessert, we enjoy the same pumpkin and pecan recipes that my mother-in-law’s made.
Now that our children have families of their own, the ones who live in the area return to their homes to celebrate Christmas morning. Then everyone comes back to our house later Christmas day. I’m so grateful that several years before my father passed away, our son Reese took the time to learn the Swedish pancakes recipe from his grandfather. Reese makes sure a plate of our traditional breakfast treat still greets family members as they arrive for the Christmas day family brunch.
So what we celebrate today is a blend of what Nolan and I experienced growing up with some additions of our own. We are so fortunate to our children want to carry on in that same spirit. I'll add additional posts this month so tune in for more Ryan family traditions.