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ARTICLES
Cherish summer in Santa Fe with good books, lush gardens, buzzing bees, a trip to the zoo, a science project or two, and the restorative balm of children's creativity.
The silky soft gypsum of White Sands are the perfect place to make some sand angels. Photo by Tira Howard. |
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By Melanie LaBorwit
<br> <br> Revisit a Santa Fe classic celebration and bring your favorite elements home. New at-home activities added! 
Crowds used to wrap around the block for entry to Christmas at the Palace.
Whether you’re completely overjoyed at the holiday season or think it’s humbug, the Christmas at the Palace event held every year at the Palace of the Governors on the Santa Fe Plaza has always been a community favorite.
Christmas at the Palace was created as a way for the New Mexico History Museum staff to give back to the community for their support throughout the year. Enjoying the refreshments, meeting familiar faces we haven’t visited with since the year before, warming up around bonfires — all of these ingredients made this a special event for locals and visitors to Santa Fe alike for almost 40 years.
In years past, some 1,500 to 3,000 people strolled through the rooms of the museum, enjoying Christmas trees decorated with ornaments hand-carved from Rio Grande driftwood, antique blown glass, painted tinwork and Victorian paper adornments. Crowds gathered in the Palace of the Governors courtyard for the grand entrance of Santa, Mrs. Claus and the accompanying elves at sundown. Along the old brick walkways, special fire pits are lit with stacks of wood for small bonfires, adding to the festive atmosphere and the aroma of burning piñon.
A recent visitor to Christmas at the Palace puts his hopes in Santa's hands.
Festivities for this year’s 38th annual event were already being planned months in advance when the coronavirus-related closings forced the New Mexico History Museum to rethink how to celebrate our community.
We cannot share our candies, cookies, cider or appreciation for Santa Fe in person this year, but we’ve worked to find exciting ways to rekindle that magic — together at home! The museum now has a New Mexico Traditions page on Facebook, where we will be crowdsourcing and sharing stories about our state’s heritage and envisioning new ways to connect to New Mexicans near and far. Check this page for some great traditional recipes and how-to videos. Not on Facebook? Find the activities and much more at the museum blog. Here are some of the things you can do in your own celebrations at home this year, in the spirit of Christmas at the Palace:
These ornaments are fun to make and last a long time. The salt acts as a preservative, and since the dough doesn’t taste sweet no one will want to eat it! This recipe can make a lot of ornaments and is a great project to do with your family. Link to the recipe below, and follow along on the how-to video on the New Mexico History Museum's YouTube channel..
Instructions
Ingredients 4 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup table salt 1 1/2 cups warm water paint and ribbon, for decoration Procedure Preheat the oven to 300°F. Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Slowly stream in the water while stirring until it comes together. Finish mixing together with hands. Knead until dough is soft, about five minutes. Roll the dough: Place half of the dough between two large pieces of parchment paper. Roll out until 1/8" thick. (Thicker dough can result in bubbles and uneven baking.) Remove the top sheet of parchment. If you don’t have parchment paper, just roll out on a flat surface and sprinkle with flour if it starts to stick. Shape the ornaments: Using cookie cutters or the end of a butter knife, cut shapes (leaving them on the parchment). Peel away the excess dough- you can re-roll it out until you use it all up for different shapes. Transfer the parchment with shapes to a baking sheet. Using a straw or toothpick, poke a hole for ribbon or an ornament hanger. Optional: Press your ornaments with forks, lace, beads and rubber stamps, and think about the texture if you want to play with pattern and design. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until the dough is hard. Decorate! Once cooled, decorate using tempera or acrylic paint. You can use permanent markers, or spray paint, and decorate however you like. Optional: To help make the ornaments last, spray or brush with a light coat of Mod Podge (available in craft supply stores) or polyurethane. When everything is dry, put a ribbon or wire through the hole and hang on the tree, or wherever you’d like!
Tutorial Video
Recipe
Ingredients 1 1/2 cups lard or shortening 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup sugar (plus more for topping) 1 teaspoon anise seed 4 cup flour 2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup water, or water with a little bit of orange juice 1 tablespoon cinnamon (plus more for topping) Procedure Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the dough. Cream the lard or shortening with the sugar and slowly mix in the anise seed and continue beating until mixture is fluffy. Beat eggs into the mixture one at a time. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and add to the bowl. Add enough water to form a stiff cookie dough. Chill the dough for about half an hour and then roll the dough out on a floured surface until it is about 1/4" thick. Shape your cookies. Use a knife or cookie cutter to cut in fancy shapes. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a mixture of 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Bake 10-12 minutes until cookies are crisp and edges start to turn golden brown. Enjoy! This recipe freezes well if you want to make them in advance to share. Depending on the size of your cookie, you may have around 60 cookies.
Look for new recipes, activities and videos on the New Mexico History Museum Facebook page and blog!
2 Comments
Louis and Phyllis LaBorwit
12/9/2020 01:54:31 pm
We loved the article and photos. Hope to see it all in person next year.
Tumbleweeds
12/9/2020 04:44:03 pm
So did we! So many great, fun resources. No, there's nothing like getting together in person, but this will hold us over until next year. Leave a Reply. |
