Tomorrow is WinterFest, so everything is bustling with cozy-winter happiness around the Starr home!
WinterFest is our family’s celebration of all the things that make winter a special, beautiful and cozy time of year. The holiday colors are ice blue, cranberry red, black and white (one of the reasons I love ElleMoss’s photo, above, is because it has three of the four colors!).
Each year has a different theme, usually a country, and we celebrate in the style of that culture. This year’s theme is Russia, so our kitchen will be filled with the aromas of Russian cooking and baking. I have never been to Russia, but I did live in Eastern Europe for a while growing up, and in researching Russia for WinterFest, I found many similarities between the two cultures. And that makes this year’s theme even more fun and nostalgic!
The morning of WinterFest starts off with hidden clues … the first one will be hidden on the child’s bed. This clue will lead to other clues throughout the day, which eventually will lead to presents at the end of the day! Yay! (WinterFest is when we do our family’s gift exchange). Right now, with just a four year old, the clues are pretty simple, but as our kids increase in number and get older, the clues will get trickier, and will probably involve the theme … like part of the message being in the country’s language, etc. Our little daughter loves this part of the day!
My husband, Tim, is in charge of breakfast on WinterFest. Last year the theme was Spain, and he made a delicious Spanish potato omelette . This year, I believe he is planning to make blini, which are thin, buttery Russian pancakes. I can’t wait! Plus, it’s a treat for me to not have to cook that morning, since I will have been cooking and baking up a storm in the days leading up to WinterFest in preparation for the official feast!
The main meal on WinterFest usually is a middle of the day feast, kind of like Thanksgiving, but with food from the theme country. I’ve been reading up on Russian food, both on traditional dishes, and how the courses are served. I love this part … its a fun way to get into the spirit of things leading up to WinterFest! I love to learn, so discovering how people all over the world eat and celebrate is just my cup of tea. Here is what this year’s menu looks like:
Zakuski: (a small buffet of Russian hors d’oeuvres)
– Eggplant Caviar (which is not really caviar!)
– Assorted pickles
– Salad Olivier in tartlets
– Aromatic meatballs with pine nuts and raisins
Soup Course:
Pomegranate Broth, served with bread
Main Course:
Roast Pork Paprikash, served with garlic potatoes
Dessert:
Tea and Cheese and Blueberry Pie
I can’t wait! Most of these came out of a Russian cookbook I found at the library, but several I came across online, too.
That menu means that today, on WinterFest-eve (say that outloud, its very fun to say … fest-eve sounds like festive with a funny accent), is a cooking marathon. My Etsy shop is on vacation, we have fun winter music like Frank Sinatra’s “Marshmallow World” playing in the background, and my little 4-year old helper and I are having fun in the kitchen preparing all these festive Russian dishes. And don’t worry, I’m not taking time out of this special day to blog … I wrote this a few days ago and scheduled it to post today. Technology, for the win!
I’ll look forward to posting pictures of tomorrow’s festives here on my blog, hopefully next week.
But until then, Happy WinterFest to all of you!
Or, Huzzah WinterFest!, as we like to say.
Or this year, we could say Khleb da sol!, a Russian well-wish that translated as “bread and salt”.
But however we say it, you get the idea. :)
The day after WinterFest, we decide what the next year’s theme is going to be – any suggestions or ideas?
Post them in the comments below! :)
Don’t forget to leave your suggestions for WinterFest themes! So far we have done Italy, Japan, Spain and Russia. But it doesn’t have to be country … it could be a time period, a literary theme, or so on! Some time I want to have a “High Seas” WinterFest … or perhaps a Agatha Christie mystery WinterFest. If you have any ideas, let me know in the comments!
It sounds like you have the COOLEST family ever! Have fun!
Aw, thanks Brandi! Yeah, I think they’re pretty awesome. ;) We’ll definitely have fun! :D
Your Winterfest celebration sounds like so much fun and the meal is sure to be delicious! When I was in Russia we often had pierogi smothered in sour cream and vinegar. Yum! How about an Inuit theme?
Ooh, sounds delicious! I love sour cream … my husband is less fond of it though, so I’ve been kind of teasing him about how much sour cream we should eat because its so common in Russian food. ;)
Inuit! What a great idea! Definitely lends itself to winter very well. Thanks for the idea!
For next year, I might have suggested some of the countries I just visited, but they aren’t very wintery. So how ’bout Icelandic? (Do they have good food?)
Oh, it doesn’t have to be necessarily very wintery … we can incorporate the more wintery types of activities in other ways :) But Iceland is definitely a good one … the only Icelandic food I’ve really heard of is made of rotten shark meat, but I’m sure there are plenty of better Icelandic food options. ;)
What a wonderful idea! This looks like just a great way to make everyone excited to spend time with each other. Memories to be made.
Thanks! :) Yes, I look forward to all the memories we will make over the years, Lord willing. :) Inventing a new tradition and getting the whole family in on it is a fun way to do things together! :)
What a wonderful idea! So creative and fun!
Stopping by from Etsy Blog Team
Thanks so much! :)
What a fantastic idea!! How ever do you choose the themes?
Thanks! :D So far, my husband and I just bounce ideas off each other until we find one we like. We’ve also tried to balance not having *too* similar of themes back to back, so after we did a European country the first year (Italy), then we decided to do something completely different, and did an Asian country (Japan). My husband got me a birthday present of a tapas cookbook, and looking at that we wanted to do something on that theme, so the next year we did Spain, where tapas originated. This year we didn’t decide right away, but eventually settled on Russia. Next year I think we want to do something a little different … maybe not a country … or at least probably not a European country. That’s part of why we’re open to suggestions, we’re both curious what ideas other people might have! :)
And who knows … maybe in the future when our kids are bigger and have more input on themes, we may have some kind of official deciding ceremony or tradition. I’ve been bouncing around ideas about that in my head too. :)
April–sounds like so much fun and I love this idea. How about Winterfest High Tea–think Leila would love a winter tea party!
Ooh, great idea! We love tea here, both the drink and the meal!
I think it would be cool for next year’s theme to center around children’s literature in some way. Possibly you could have cosy, wintery-type books, or the Francis books by Russell Hoban (eat the foods talked about in Bread and Jam for Frances — lobster salad sandwich, anyone?). Your daughter will be a great age for such a theme.
Ah, I looove the idea of a children’s literary theme! I’m not very familiar with the Francis books, will have to go looks those up. I’m kind of hoping next year to take a break from a country theme and try something else – hadn’t really thought much about children’s books, but that is a great idea, and like you said, the little one is just the age for that! :)
So excited for you all, and can’t wait to see pictures! I hope you got the packages in the mail for Winterfest! I like the children’s literature idea? What other kinds of themes had you thought of besides countries?
Love you!
mom
Thanks Mom! :D Yes, the package came this afternoon, looking forward to opening it up tomorrow! :)
Other themes … well, besides countries, other types of theme ideas that we’ve considered would be historical time periods, literary themes based on books (like a “Lord of the Rings” or “Little House on the Prairie” Winterfest … hadn’t thought much about children’s lit, though, till Lori mentioned it and I’m toying with the idea of a Dr. Seuss theme!) or based on genre (like mystery, sci fi, etc.), event based (like I’ve thought about having a Shakelton’s adventure WinterFest), or even a building WinterFest folklore themed WinterFest, if I can ever get my WinterFest children’s book finished, haha! Basically, though, a theme would be anything we could base clues on and at least get inspiration for food from. :)
you are so creative it’s ridiculous. 2 thumbs up. now my recommendation for a future year: cuban or indian
Aw, thanks Dad. :D Love both Cuban and Indian food, those would both be great! We haven’t done any western-hemisphere countries yet, so it’s nice to have Cuban thrown in the mix there!
You guys are the most incredibly creative and fun family I have ever known. It’s a brilliant idea! Have a great time (that goes without saying really) and thanks for featuring one of my photos. Happy Winter Fest! (I’m going home to Malaysia for a few weeks to visit my folks for Chinese New Year and it’ll be Summer Fest for me ;-))
Aw, thanks! :D Wow, Malaysia … I’m sure it’s beautiful there! Have a wonderful trip (and Summer Fest;) )
I love the idea of an Agatha Christie winterfest! :) And the whole thing sounds like an amazing way to build memories. :)
Thanks! I’m a big Christie fan, so I think it would be pretty fun! Might wait until we have some bigger kids, and do kind of a mystery dinner. :)
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