A Christmas Tradition: Pigs In The Blanket [Video Recipe]

Not all Christmas traditions are handed down from generation to generation. Not all Christmas traditions are hundreds of years old.

No, some Christmas traditions have a shorter lifespan. But that doesn't make them any less memorable.

Our Christmas tradition of the Pig In The Blanket lasted about seven years.

Get our free mobile app

My mom went into the Edgebrook Nursing Home in Edgerton, Minnesota in 1999. And it was about six months later that my dad joined her in that facility. They had a double room and mom spent the final seven years of her life there. It was about nine months after mom passed away that dad died. I miss them both every day, but one of the warmest memories I have of their time in the home was Christmas.

Mom and dad couldn't get out and about like they used to, couldn't join in the hustle-and-bustle of holiday shopping (and that was OK, they weren't much for "hustle-and-bustle" anyway). So they were kind of limited in what they could do for Christmas.

So they got us Pigs In The Blanket.

I believe it was my cousins Jerold and Sophie that got the delectable treat for them. My kids Jeremy and Jessie would make their way up from Nebraska with their families. So there we all were, my wife and I, our kids and spouses, and our grandkids. Quite a group, all of us there. And that's when and where the tradition was born.

Before we left, mom and dad would hand out our Christmas presents: the Pigs In A Blanket. We'd all get a big box of them, enough to last us for the next month (or two). Those Pigs In A Blanket would make their way back to Sioux Falls, back to Clarkson, Nebraska, back to the Omaha Metro....

...and back to our hearts.

It was a family Christmas tradition, a tradition that only lasted a short seven years. Except, of course, it has lasted a whole lot longer than that  It still lasts today in our family Christmas memories.

Now of course there will be folks that are wondering "What in the heck are Pigs In A Blanket?"

Well, in searching around the internet, it turns out there are a whole bunch of different kinds of this treat. It means different things to different people I guess. So if you want, go ahead and check out all the different configurations for yourself. But for a recipe of the kind I remember, check out the video below.

And maybe, just maybe, you can start a heartwarming Christmas family tradition of your own.

CHRISTMAS TAMALES: If You Love Tamales, See If You Can Figure Out What’s Wrong with These