Keeping Christmas traditions alive, one handwritten card at a time
Before the first batch of Christmas baking goes into the oven, there is often a search.
Where is the shortbread recipe? Who borrowed the baking notebook? And which version of the gingerbread is the one everyone actually likes?
Out comes a recipe box, a flour-dusted cookbook, or an envelope stuffed with folded papers. Somewhere inside is a familiar handwritten card, complete with crossed-out measurements and a little reminder: “Double this!”
These are more than instructions for making something delicious. They are small records of family life—and Christmas is a wonderful time to rediscover them.
The Stories Between the Ingredients
Imagine finding a card labelled “Aunt Jean’s Christmas Squares.” The ingredients tell you how to bake them, but the name gives you somewhere else to begin.
Who was Jean? Did she bring these squares to every gathering? Was the recipe originally hers, or did she copy it from a neighbour?
Look closely at the notes. “Less sugar.” “Use the big pan.” “Good for freezing.” Each addition records someone making the recipe their own.
Even an unidentified recipe can spark a conversation. Show the handwriting to relatives. Ask who remembers the dish, when it appeared, and whether anyone knows the missing instruction after “bake until done.”
Write those memories down on a separate sheet. The story deserves a place beside the recipe.
A Taste of Canadian Community History
Recipe collections can connect us to a neighbourhood as well as a family.
Toronto Metropolitan University’s Canadian Community Cookbook Collection includes publications dating from 1888 to the early 2000s. Its community cookbooks were produced by groups such as women’s associations, churches, and hospitals to raise funds. Contributors’ names and advertisements for local businesses give these books value beyond the recipes themselves (Wong, 2023).
An old Ontario community cookbook might send you searching for a familiar surname or a business that once stood on your town’s Main Street.
Try browsing the advertisements as carefully as the dessert section. A cookbook can become an unexpected guide to the community that created it.
Christmas Traditions Adapt
A treasured recipe does not have to remain unchanged to remain meaningful.
Perhaps your family makes a smaller batch now, substitutes an ingredient, or prepares a dish for someone with different dietary needs. Record the change and the reason for it. Keep the earlier version, too.
Historical recipe collections show that cooks have long adapted to circumstances. Wartime Canada preserves recipe publications that addressed rationing and ingredient substitutions, including British Columbia Electric pamphlets with suggestions for Christmas dinners (Wartime Canada, n.d.).
Your own adjustments belong to that continuing story of making a celebration work with what you have.
Give the Originals a Rest
A favourite recipe deserves to stay in use, but its fragile original does not need another encounter with melted butter.
The Canadian Conservation Institute recommends making copies of important papers to reduce repeated handling. It also advises against laminating valuable documents or applying tape and glue, which can cause lasting damage (Canadian Conservation Institute, 2018).
Make a clear photograph or scan of both sides of each card. Keep the handwriting, notes, and edges visible. Then create a working copy for the kitchen.
For a recipe in a delicate book, avoid pressing it flat to capture the page. Photograph it gently while supporting the binding.
You can have a clean, readable kitchen copy and still preserve the original’s personality.
A Better Home for Recipe Cards
That inherited recipe box may be a keepsake itself. Photograph it and record who owned it before reorganizing its contents.
For valuable loose papers, choose acid-free folders or enclosures within a suitable protective box. Keep them away from light, dampness, and kitchen splashes. The Canadian Conservation Institute advises against storing important documents in attics, basements, or garages and cautions against overfilling storage boxes (Canadian Conservation Institute, 2018).
Keep cookbooks supported rather than wedged tightly onto a shelf, and leave damaged bindings or brittle pages to a conservator rather than attempting repairs.
A practical arrangement might be originals stored safely in a cupboard, with copies of your most-used recipes collected in a kitchen binder.
Keep Making the Memories
Choose one recipe to bring back this Christmas.
Invite someone to bake with you. Ask a relative to demonstrate the part that was never written down. Photograph the finished dish, and record whose hands helped make it.
You could build a family recipe booklet with a photograph of each original card, a readable transcription, and a short memory. For digital files, use descriptive names such as “Jean_Shortbread_recipe_front” and keep a backup.
The most important addition may be a sentence: “We made these together every December.”
At Fireheart Archives, I help organize and catalogue photographs, documents, and family collections—including the recipe cards and notebooks that keep treasured traditions within reach.
Sources:
Canadian Conservation Institute. (2018, November 14). Basic care—Paper documents and newspaper clippings. Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institute/services/care-objects/paper-books/basic-care-documents-newspaper-clippings.html
Wartime Canada. (n.d.). Recipes. https://wartimecanada.ca/categories/recipes
Wong, O. (2023, December 12). Highlights from the Canadian Community Cookbook Collection. Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections. https://library.torontomu.ca/asc/2023/12/highlights-from-the-canadian-community-cookbook-collection/