My favorite Christmas tradition in my family is climbing into bed with my two little ones and reading “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” by Barbara Robinson. We read a chapter a night, sometimes two, if there is lots of begging. We have done this for three years now and they must have just hit the perfect age for this story because my 6 and 8 year old children absolutely love it! It is a very funny book and my kids laugh so loud that I have to stop and wait for the laughing to die down before I can continue reading. It is just so much fun. I wish the book was longer than 7 chapters. It is such a complete Christmas story. It has all of the hysterical, busy, chaos that the Christmas season brings but then “lo and behold” in the end it all gets quiet as a young, wild and rough little girl finds out who Mary and the baby Jesus really are. They look like her – poor and disheveled taking life day by day. She realizes the reason they are like her is because God wanted it that way for her sake, for our sake. This is the news that breaks into a busy Christmas season, year after year and God’s hope is that it would stay in our hearts day after day. The Herdman’s (the hooligan children in the book) thought a ham (one they were given by child services) was a more practical gift for the Holy family than gold, frankincense, and myrrh. So in their pageant that is what the wisemen present to the baby Jesus. So for your next Christmas party use the “great gift of ham” and make these delicious ham biscuits to warm up your Holiday crowd. Merry Christmas!
1/2 lb. softened butter
3 tbsp. poppy seeds
1 chopped fine onion
Salt and pepper
16 slices of ham
16 slices of Swiss cheese
1 package of party buns
-Make an assembly line of the following: 16 slices ham 16 slices Swiss cheese 16 sq. pieces aluminum foil
-Spread buns with butter mixture on one side. Top with slice of ham, then Swiss cheese. Wrap up whole thing in foil.
-Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
By Leigh Sackett
