Holiday Traditions, Recipes And Trees This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, we spread some holiday cheer. We visit a Christmas tree farm in Jefferson County, and we hear about holiday traditions and recipes featured in this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia.

Inside Appalachia co-host Caitlin Tan brings us a Christmas food tradition from her childhood – brought over from former East Germany in the 1950s by Caitlin’s grandmother, or Oma. The recipe is for a sweet and dense fruit bread called Stollen. Caitlin and her Oma have been quarantining together during the pandemic, so they’ve been reminiscing.

We also hear from Inside Appalachia’s other new co-host, Mason Adams. For the holiday special, Mason sat down with his mother Linda Adams to talk about food and what it means this time of the year.

The Christmas tree in the White House’s Blue Room this year is from West Virginia. The tree is from Dan and Bryan Christmas Trees in Jefferson County. They won this year’s National Christmas Tree Association contest, earning them the right to display one of their Fraser firs in the historic room. Reporter Liz McCormick spoke with Anne Taylor, who helps run Dan and Bryan Christmas Trees’ Shepherdstown location, and brings us this audio postcard.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

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