We can only imagine what it must have been like to celebrate Christmas for twelve days. The festivities, including the giving of one gift a day, then opening all of them on Twelfth Night or the following day (Epiphany), must have delighted children. I suspect that a few of those gifts were modest by today's standards, perhaps as simple as an orange or bag of special candy. My dad once told me that as far back as he could remember, his Aunt Lizzie [shown here in 1912 when she was 24] had always given her nieces and nephews several gifts, including a popcorn ball wrapped in colored cellophane. Lizzie never married. When my dad's generation did and had children of their own, she continued her generosity, including the distribution of those popcorn balls up through her last Christmas in 1958.I loved crunching into them, but for some reason, never carried on that tradition. I'm sure they were a part of Lizzie's childhood in the late 1880s and 90s when popcorn was wildly popular. It may be too late for my kids, and grandchildren are rather unlikely in the near future. Still, I think it's time for my wife and me to make a batch.
Aunt Lizzie's Christmas Popcorn Balls
8 cups of popcorn
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup of sorghum syrup
1/3 cup of water
1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
Combine the sugar, sorghum, water, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Continue cooking until the mixture reaches about 250 degrees or hardens when dropped into cold water. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, and pour over the popcorn. Working quickly, mix thoroughly, butter your hands and shape popcorn into balls about four inches wide. Let them cool on wax paper. Wrap each ball in red or green cellophane and secure with a ribbon.
Distribute to wide-eyed youngsters or oldsters - not so sure the 'tweeners would understand. Lizzie would.
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