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Holiday Dessert Recipes

Grandma's Holiday Dessert Recipes Make The Holiday Special

With Grandma's old-fashioned holiday dessert recipes, you can prepare delicious desserts that will make those wonderful family occasions extra special.

Everybody loves to celebrate special holidays, and Canadians are no exception. We look forward to those days when we can lay aside our everyday work and concerns, and celebrate a special event, or simply relax and have fun.

Holidays are a great time for family and friends to get together. It's always fun to catch up on all the news, and homemade desserts and special treats add to the fun.

The History of Holidays

Our modern word "holiday" comes from the Anglo-Saxon halig daeg, or "holy day." That's because the first holidays were days set aside to honor a favorite saint or sacred event. They revolved around services of worship and special feasts which always included "sweetmeats," or desserts.

Nowadays, in our busy, increasingly secular society, holidays are often viewed as simply a day off work, but there are many who still observe holy days like Christmas, Good Friday and Easter. Traditional foods are a big part of these celebrations, and tasty treats like Christmas puddings, Easter candy, and Thanksgiving pumpkin pies have become identified with the occasions.

Canadian Holidays

In Canada, we celebrate 12 statutory holidays:

New Years Day, January 1
Family Day, third Monday in February
Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday
Easter Monday, first Monday after Easter
Victoria Day / The Queen's Birthday, Monday on or before May 24
Canada Day, July 1
Civic Holiday, first Monday in August
Labour Day, first Monday in September
Thanksgiving Day, second Monday in October
Remembrance Day, November 11
Christmas Day, December 25
Boxing Day, December 26

We also celebrate several other nonofficial, fun occasions:

Robbie Burns Day, January 25
St. Valentine's Day, February 14
Flag Day, February 15
Commonwealth Day, second Monday in March
St. Patrick's Day, March 17
Earth Day, April 22
Mother's Day, second Sunday in May
Father's Day, third Sunday in June
National Aboriginal Day, June 21
Halloween, October 31
National Family Week, week before Thanksgiving Day

Our American friends enjoy similar holidays, while our friends in other countries have their own celebration days. Wherever you live, you are sure to find some unique holiday recipes here that you can use to celebrate your special days.

Why Not Declare Your Own Holiday?

Sometimes, we don't need the excuse of an official holiday, we can simply declare our own holiday and take a Saturday or Sunday off to go on a picnic, attend a family reunion, or enjoy a neighborhood block party.

Desserts always make these occasions extra special, and with the help of these old-fashioned holiday dessert recipes, you can make the best holiday desserts imaginable.

Holiday Dessert Recipes

These Holiday Recipe pages contain many recipes for cakes, pies, cookies, puddings, candies, and other desserts that can be used throughout the year to make your meal or event special.

Valentine Dessert Recipes

St. Patrick's Day Recipes

Easter Dessert Recipes

Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes

Halloween Dessert Recipes

Christmas Dessert Recipes

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Welcome To My Website

My name is Don and I've dedicated my site to bringing you the best in vintage dessert recipes.

Grandma's historical recipes are given exactly as they were first published and sometimes lack exact temperatures and cooking times. Here, you'll find...

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Grandma McIlmoyle's vintage recipes for dessert

Enjoy making the delicious homemade desserts your grandparents loved. Help to keep the old fashioned recipes alive.