The holidays are truly a wonderful opportunity to spend time with loved ones and make memories that last a lifetime! In preparing this year’s Christmas Eve edition of Biscuits & Bach: A Baroque Christmas, we asked WDAV staff to share some stories of their favorite holiday treats! Here’s a taste:

Ted Weiner,
Music Director & Early Shift Host

Ted Weiner

When I was a kid my maternal grandmother, LaVerne, would spend the weekends with my single mother and us five kids. LaVerne was a terrific cook making all sorts of great dishes. But, once a year she forced us kids to eat calve’s liver…she said the vitamin B12 in the liver would give us strength!

As good a cook as LaVerne was, her liver always turned out like rubber. You’d need SUPER strength to chew through it. One year, she chose as Liver Night — Christmas Eve. Of all nights… Christmas Eve!

I remember this so well because LaVerne had prepared her annual Christmas Eve dessert, Boston Cream Pie, which was my absolute favorite. And LaVerne said only those that finish their liver may have pie. Needless to say, I left my four siblings in the dust eating that slab of liver because that night’s Boston Cream Pie turned out to be THE most memorable holiday treat of my childhood. It even made me forget the horror of LaVerne’s Rubbery Liver!

Amanda Preston,
Marketing Manager

Amanda Preston

Probably one of my favorite “treats” (which wasn’t actually edible) is that my grandmother used to make my sister and me Christmas ornaments for the tree each year out of an egg shell. It’d have a photo of us from that year, as well as a little item or two that symbolized what we were up to that year. So when I started playing viola, mine had a tiny instrument and music note in it. When my sister turned 16 and got her learner’s permit to drive, hers featured a small little convertible. I have no idea how Grams did such delicate work each and every year, but it’s such a fun process now to decorate the tree together and see our childhoods unfold as we hang up our collection of eggs.

Myelita Melton,
Afternoon Host

Myelita Melton

Fudge has always been a Christmas tradition in the Melton household.  I started helping my aunt and my grandmother make it when I was about six years old—barely tall enough to stand on a chair to take a peek into the boiling pot of chocolate, butter, sugar and marshmallow cream. Every Christmas Eve my sister, my parents, and I enjoyed that sweet chocolate fudge with my mom’s southern sausage balls. They were legendary!

Rodger Clark,
Director of Philanthropy and Special Projects

Rodger Clark

One of my best holiday memories is my mother busily baking cookies for the various family gatherings. My absolute favorite was her “Bird’s Nest” cookies. These were wonderful confections that featured a crushed up Life cereal coating and a dab of strawberry preserves in the middle – purposively indented to look like a nest. She only made these during the Christmas holidays. Thankfully, she passed on the recipe to my wife and now we have to have at least one batch every Christmas!

Be sure to tune in to Biscuits & Bach: A Baroque Christmas on Sunday, December 24 at 7 a.m. to hear each of these stories, as well as a few more from others on our great staff. To delve into some extra tasty tidbits and hear more from our friends and special guests, subscribe to our “Biscuit Chats” podcast available here.