While shopping for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day supplies, I saw a beautiful display of Christmas oranges, polished and shining in the produce section of the supermarket. These were big, beautiful oranges, and made me recall the old story of the Christmas orange.
The Christmas orange story goes something like this:
A little girl who lived in an orphanage was excited to learn that there would be a beautiful Christmas tree in the great hall downstairs placed by Santa Claus himself! There was also a rumor going around the orphanage that each good child would receive a fresh juicy orange –a Christmas Orange — as a special Christmas gift.
Back then there were no toys, or electronic gadget, to anticipate; precious fruits and nuts from the exotic parts of the world were highly prized and a great delight for anyone who received them. A Christmas orange was like gold for most. But the little girl was so curious, and the stern supervisor of the orphanage would not allow any rules to be broken.
The little girl woke up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and crept downstairs to witness the Christmas miracle of Santa Claus delivering the tree. Unfortunately she was caught by the stern supervisor and banished to her bed with the promise of no Christmas orange for a bad little girl. She cried all the rest of the night, and did not join the other children at breakfast.
Suddenly a large robed figure placed an object wrapped in a napkin in her tiny hand. It was an orange! How could this be? It was a Christmas orange made up of ragged orange peeling and orange sections. The other children in the orphanage had each given a section of their orange so that she, too, could taste the joy of Christmas.
Merry Christmas & Happy Cookbooking,
Erin
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