Editor’s note: We’ve met and visited with a lot of wonderful people in the bluegrass world in the past couple years. We asked a handful of some of those memorable people we’ve visited with over the past year and invited them to share a favorite bluegrass Christmas memory. Martha Adcock was kind enough to share her favorite Christmas Memory with us today.

Martha Adcock Photo by Hank Widick

“I think my favorite Christmas memory would simply be a composite of all my childhood Christmases in South Carolina. I remember them all as being wonderful. (…Even though I never did get that pony…)

“There were family traditions we observed each year, such as Daddy setting off fireworks in the front yard on Christmas Eve night. But Mother’s hot, spiced Russian Tea was the first festive aroma of the holiday itself. It’s a tradition I still carry on.

“After Thanksgiving, when the oak leaves and acorns had fallen, and all the cotton was picked and baled and lined up in the side yard, my sister and I could begin to allow ourselves to get excited about Christmas. Back then, when the holiday season was considerably shorter than it is now, kids anticipated it sharply. And we knew that Christmas was really and truly on its way when we smelled Russian Tea ready on the stove.

“Brewed with Lipton tea, cinnamon and cloves, and livened up with sugar and fresh-squeezed oranges and lemons, Russian Tea was a hot punch that could be kept in its pot on the back of the cook-top…or in the gorged refrigerator if there was room, and if it lasted long enough. Coming from playing outside in the cold, I headed for its hot and comforting refreshment. Adult or child, we all loved it.

“Though we would continue to make fresh batches well through New Year’s, the main official role of Russian Tea was as the traditional drink of choice on Christmas Eve night. After the fireworks, our family would gather in the living room near the lighted tree to warm up by the fireplace as we sang piano-accompanied carols and nibbled Grandma’s pecan-and-sharp-cheese wafers, and to drink Russian Tea from the old-fashioned flowered cups and saucers.

“After that, the only thing left to do was to brush our teeth and go to bed, and wait for Jesus to be born and Santa Claus to come.”

Interested in sampling that tea? Martha Adcock was gracious enough to share the family recipe with BluegrassJournal.com. Here it is:

Boil 2 sticks cinnamon and 2 scant tsp. whole cloves in 3 qts. water for 5 to 10 minutes.
Take off heat and add 6 teabags. Let steep until liquid has cooled slightly.
Take teabags out, leaving spices in.
Add 1 to 1 ½ c. sugar, to taste, and fresh-squeezed juice of 3 oranges and 2 lemons.
Serve hot.

(May be kept in refrigerator and reheated on stove or by the cup in microwave.
May also be left out if consumed within two or three days. Best after 24 hrs.)