"A Natchitoches Christmas"

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

"Jambalaya, Crawfish pie, and a File Gumbo........," Christmas lights, music, fireworks, and Creole cooking are just some of the ways that Christmas is celebrated down Louisiana way, on the Cane River, in Natchitoches. If you watched the movie "Steel Magnolias" or read Lalita Tademy's "Cane River," you know a little about the town of Natchitoches, the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase, where "no stops are barred," for a Christmas celebration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas begins the first of December and extends thru the New Year's holiday, with Christmas lights, parades, fireworks, entertainment, creole cooking, the world famous Meat Pies at Lasyone's Restaurant, and good ol' Louisiana hospitality. For those in Hopkins County, you need to plan a stop in Marshall, Texas, to view the wonderful display of lights, on your way to Natchitoches, and possibly at stop in Jefferson, Texas, on the return trip home. That is, if you don't decide to "stop at the boats" in Shreveport, to "test your luck!"

 

 

 

Natchitoches features a Tour of Homes, "Christmas Down River," the Cane River Creole National Historic Park and Cane River National Heritage Area, and a nightly fireworks display, with entertainment from the Fleur de Lis Stage, on the river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, there's the historic Beau Fort Plantation, Cherokee Plantation, Magnolia Plantation, Melrose Plantation, and Oaklawn Plantation to provide a glimpse at early settlement in the area. The Isle Breville Community offers home of a smaller Creole flavor as well as the Cloutierville area. The Badin-Roque House is 16 miles S.E. of Natchitoches and features one of the oldest homes in Louisiana, and one of only four poteaux en terre (posts in the ground) homes in the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wintertime in the area features traditional "Boucheries," or "hog killings," where everything is used "but the squeal." Cracklin's frying in washpots, pork dressings, pork loins, boudin and other sausages, and delicious pork dishes of every variety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Start the morning with hot chicory laced coffee, with calas, a sweet, deep-fried breakfast cake, made from rich rice dough and shaped into balls, or delicately sugar-coated beignets. If eggs are your favorite way to begin the day, menus include eggs sardou, eggs Nouvelle Orleans, or eggs hussarde.

 

 

 

 

 

As "the clock ticks on Creole time," the feasting begins, with an array of Shrimp-stuffed Artichokes, Chicken Rochambeau (chicken and ham on rusks, with a Bearnaise sauce), Shrimp Creole, Twice-Baked Sweet Yams, Duck and Sausage Gumbo, Crab Chops,  Mirliton Squash, Creole Cream Cheese, Grillades and Grits, Frog Legs with Piquante Sauce, or traditional Crawfish Etoufee. Boiled shrimp, rice, and a world of rich sauces are available at every turn, to spike your gastronomic cravings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sauterne wine, a white table wine, pairs well with most Creole fete, but their are more traditional drinks using anise flavored Herbsaint, Ojen and Pernod from the absinthe variety, flavored with Peychaud Bitters, that pair well with the cuisine.

 

 

 

 

 

Creole desserts are "to die for," from Christmas Pettit Fours, to Bourbon Pecan Sweet Potato Pie, and Batons de Noisettes (a candy nut stick, made of butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, chopped walnuts, and confectioners sugar). Or, perhaps you prefer the Oreilles de Chochon (deep-fried pastries, shaped like a pig's ear) and Pecan Laced Cookies, plus an assortment of Gateau. The gastronomic feast goes on and on in the land of the Creole, as eggnogs, white chocolate peppermint bark, and  Pain Perdue (a bread pudding with a creamy whiskey sauce) are offered. Creme Brulee is featured on almost every menu, as well as rich liqueurs and creamy chocolate drinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Gluttonous" is about the only way to describe the rich entertainment, fireworks, Christmas lights, and Creole cooking that is featured in French Acadian, Louisiana. The Cane River experience is one you'll not soon forget!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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