For sisters Hilda Gerbrandt and Rose Froese, Christmas baking isn’t just another checkmark on the holiday “to-do” list, filling tins, trays, and freezers. It’s a connection to their childhood, their parents, and the gatherings that still bring their large family together.
Rose, the youngest of eight siblings, grew up watching her mother bake for a house full of children and constant visitors.
“I remember helping mom like as a little girl,” she said. “At Christmas she would always bake and bake and bake because… everybody was coming over and you had to have enough food.”
Even with a 14-year age gap between Rose and her oldest sibling, the tradition was consistent. “There were so many kids,” she added. “You had to have enough food.”
“I take one week of vacation and I just bake for an entire week. This year it was an entire freezer I filled.” – Rose Froese, on the tradition of Christmas baking.
Keeping gatherings alive
Although their parents have passed, the siblings still make time to meet. Gerbrandt helps coordinate, organizing meals and planning potluck-style contributions.
“We just kind of say, okay, what kind of meal would you like to have?” Gerbrandt said. “Everybody just starts to chip in what they would like to bring… it’s like potluck, but we kind of have a theme.”
Rose laughs that at these gatherings, dessert is never in danger of running short.
“There’s usually at least one huge table full of just desserts,” she said. And Froese is a significant contributor to the dessert table
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A tradition passed down
Rose is the unofficial “Christmas baking expert” in the family, preparing up to 15 varieties each holiday season.
“I take one week of vacation and I just bake for an entire week,” she said. “This year it was an entire freezer I filled.”
Her baking list includes classic favourites such as coconut chews, jam-jams, cherry bars, magic cookie bars, hip hugger bars and of course, a staple in many Mennonite households, schmaundtkuchen.
“It’s basically like a soft cream cookie,” Froese said. “The secret is… probably not over-mixing the dough or too much flour. My brothers usually clean out a platter before the meal starts,” she joked.
Gerbrandt’s favourite is one that takes her back to childhood.
“I would probably say the coconut chews because it brings me back to my childhood,” she said. “Rose actually has the Betty Crocker cookbook that my mom had.”.
A sweet gesture for the community
In recent years, Rose has also donated her holiday baking to the Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Support Group fundraiser.
“I’ve done two years now where I’ve done prizes with half a dozen of each baking I did,” she said. Winners pick up the packages and leave with their Christmas baking already taken care of.
She also shares baking with her workplace and her husband’s workplace — and arrived at the radio station with plenty to go around.
Both sisters say the tradition isn’t just about recipes…it’s about sharing something simple and meaningful.
Dining and Cooking