First, you need to get yourself a Christmas tree. Preferably, one that has been drying out in your back yard since January. Don't worry if the neighbors think it's an eyesore. It's a Zielske family tradition!
Next, you need fire. Hey Scarecrow, how's about a little fire?
Then, once the kindling is lit, you need to cut up the tree.
Sometimes, you need a bit more man power.
Now you're talking. Hey hot stuff, wanna light my fire?
Next, prepare your ingredients.
Then, take a self portrait on wide angle from a slightly elevated vantage point because it will make you look really chinless.
Next, begin the marshmallow toasting, preferably using tallish teens.
Once maximum toastage is achieved, assemble the delicacy.
Drool appropriately for about 15 seconds.
And never, ever record the Weight Watcher's points on a summer tradition.
Steph says
LOVE this!!!! Especially the last line. 🙂
Madeline St Onge says
There are no points on traditions Cathy LOL
Tracy says
Mmmmmmmmmmmm……………gooey!
Megan (Best of Fates) says
Amazing – especially love the Wizard of Oz line!
Tammy M. says
Love this!!! I just got done watching Monty Python’s Holy Grail…that’s a nice shrubbery you had in your yard…lol! Actually your Christmas Tree tradition sounds like something my family would have done. I’m sure this is going to make a scrapbook page soon.
susan says
Yum!!
If you want an AWESOME ww friendly dessert check this one out on ww.com Creamy Lemon Pie. It is so so good. Not chocolate but is awesome. I found it doing a search and everyone raves about how great it is – I had to try it.
Holly says
Love everything about this! The story, the pictures and who doesn’t love smores?! Thanks for the morning smile 🙂
Lee Currie says
My youngers are reading over my shoulder and have BEGGED to do the same thing. Their rationale: we don’t need the Christmas tree (since ours is plastic and that would smell bad) but we have the same exact outdoor fireplace. I have been told to buy marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers for tonight. BRILLIANT tradition, CZ.
Julie Mitchell says
Absolutely love this tradition. Good of you to record it. I sense a digital coming on… thanks for sharing this sweet story.
{vicki} says
What a great tradition!
Caroline Davis says
It may, in fact, be genuis to combine 5 month old Christmas tree with the first rites of Summer.
I love marshmellows, but I’ve never had a s’more. Isn’t that the saddest thing you’ve ever heard? Right up there with baby birds covered in oil in the gulf, and crack addicted babies.
Lisa Z says
Fabulous tradition, Cathy!!
Love the gooey-ness of a tasty, yummy smore. TFS…I’m off to see if our household has all the components.
Cynthia Friese-Hassanein says
Love it!!!!!!! Hey I am all for stashing the x-mas tree until May:) to make yummy smore goodness.
Baggsy says
Being in the Uk I always wondered what Smores were! Thanks for enlightening me. I’m thinking this is a tradition I need to start over here. Yum!
Love the whole “men and fires” thing going on too. I’m sure it’s a deep rooted caveman instinct that the men in our lives are programmed to take charge whenever there is a fire to be lit. Great story.
ale says
i’m from brazil and we don’t usually eat marshmallows around here, but i just l-o-v-e the way told us this story… so funny!!!
=^ . ^=
Anilu Magloire says
Drooling, just a little 🙂
Mel says
Never had one. Not ever. We’re deprived here in the UK…
Barb says
Okay, you guys have the coolest traditions EVER. I love it.
karlalala says
good Pioneer Women impression CZ!!
Beth says
Yummy Yummy Yummy, I love me some s’mores!!! Especially when the marshmallows are SLOW cooked so they are totally melty and delicious and the chocolate gets nice and melty… Ok, nope, wouldn’t count the WW Points either.
BTW, doing WW since mid Jan and I’ve lost 22 lbs. plus just started swimming with a bunch of Masters (read old people) at 6 a.m. I’m loving it.
Sara says
Yum! These look soooo delicious. Must make one now! Thanks for a fun reminder of a great summer tradition.
Kris says
pardon me for saying this, but man…your hubbie is smokin’! and I’m not talking about the fire!!!
jill says
ha! i love this post.
oh. and check out this s’more picture.
http://jillscripps.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451dd9869e20133edd4ffc8970b-pi
for real. if you like reese’s pb cups you may never go back.
xx
jill
tracee says
That is so funny. A friend of ours once told us that it was a family tradition to burn their christmas tree on New Years eve. Turns out it was a brand spanking new ‘tradition’, inspired by the alcohol that had recently been consumed. If I remember correctly, he burnt the decorations too. Not being a twenty something boy I didn’t fully understand the joy of it all – but if we had had marshmallows – well that would have been fun! As it turns out, the ‘tradition’ did actually continue for several years. I believe the police even attended their parties once or twice, by invitation of their neighbours. I don’t think they remembered the marshmallows either…
Michell says
You’re soooo funny! Are there Weight Watcher Points for such a thing? My trainer would be giving me the stink eye if I wrote that in my food log. Ha Ha!
AnneB says
I’m so glad to see another family who keeps their Christmas tree in the yard for months. We’ll be burning ours soon, and I’ll be sure to make s’mores when we do.
Cathy Weber says
That is so funny to read about your tradition. Yours is so normal compared to our families. We always find an animal bone or two on every vacation and put it up on our roof out of sight until the next vacation. One year we put a bone up on the roof to dry out so one of the kids could take it to school to share. We forgot about it until about a year later. Ever since, we always search for a bone on vacation and have swapped out the old bone with the new found one. Dumb, but a good memory.
dawn says
I loved this whole post, great pictures the journaling.Just the laught I needed this morning. My kids eat their smores so fast I can’t even get a picture until it’s in their mouths and a mess is ooozing out. we’ve been known to keep our tree that long too but now we have the fake kind. Thanks Cathy and now I need to go to store and buy the essentials.
Sarah says
Oh, the memories… it has been YEARS since we have gone camping and made S’mores! Long ago, my parents traded in the tents – and then, later the camper – for a cottage. Since we go to the cabin now, instead of camping, we haven’t made a campfire for years…. and s’mores cooked on a gas grill just don’t taste the same.
Elizabeth Carls says
I love love love this tradition!
cathy says
Caroline, get thee to a grocery store, then home, then build a fire. NOW!
cathy says
Baggsy, it’s not something i crave often, as I’m not a fan of marshmallows, but there is something about them… on a cool spring night. OH man.
cathy says
You should bring smores to Brazil!
cathy says
Well you have to put aside the tea and crumpets for five dang minutes! : )
You should start a new national British trend. UK SMORES!
cathy says
I know. I TOTALLY was doing PW style.
ha!
cathy says
Go Beth!
(and yes, the slower the roast, the better!)
cathy says
For ALL THINGS THAT ARE HOLY!
That is the single most beautiful smore i have ever seen.
REESES? Now you’re cramping my Achilles’ Heel. Or something.
cathy says
how fun!
cathy says
Well, i didn’t record them, but you can break it down. I simply chose NOT to!
Natalie says
That’s so funny…when I was just about to your last statement I literally said, out loud no less, “Eff the Weight Watchers points…”
cathy says
That’s a fun tradition too. : )
cathy says
ME TOO!
Shaunte says
I hate camping!
I hate high-pitched-fly-into-your-eardrum-bugs.
I hate sleeping on the only spot of ground with a jagged pointy-ass ROCK sticking up.
I hate the “do I have to pee bad enough to actually climb out of my warm burrow, and find a tree” monologue.
But all this aside…if there will be S’Mores, I am totally IN.
Stacy says
HA … up here in Duluth – we just cut up and burned our Christmas tree last weekend. Makes a GREAT fire!! Had to wait until the drought was over. 🙂
Tamie Spears says
We started experimenting with other types of chocolate and now my kids won’t eat Hershey bars on s’mores. They think they’re too waxy. We’ve had peanut butter cups, M&Ms, dark chocolate chips, Mr Goodbars, Almond Joys, and many other things. We camped last year on Halloween so after they assembled their s’mores, I let them squish the roasted marshmallow out the sides and then we rolled the sides in orange sugar crystals. They were a HUGE hit!
dmatthews says
Yum, is all I can say!
julie says
yum!
being in New Zealand we dont do smores here…. think maybe cos we dont have graham crackers. are they kind of sweet? sugary? or are they a savory cracker ?
looks fun :>
Melissa says
I have a question not even related to your post! Are you still planning on having a digital kit for recipes come out? You had mentioned it before, but I haven’t seen anything, did I miss it?!
Gabi says
This is so funny, Cathy! I love your tradition!! :)Any other, not so typical one?!
LOVE love the note about making chinless photos, my mom is always worried about the angle of photo we are taking of her too.
So fun! Thanks for the evening’s laugh.
And hmmm, yummy!
lorry says
I totally agree you never ever count WW points for Tradition!!! love this
cathy says
Melissa, yes, but i haven’t figured out how it is going to come together yet! Stay tuned!
cathy says
Julie, they are sweetish, like a wafer or biscuit. Think of a Tim Tam, without the chocolate… kind of.
Mmmm. Tim Tams.
Tea says
Great tradition, and never mind the WW points, they don’t figure into traditions. 🙂
Kasandra says
Loved your pictures…..we can’t have fires in our backyard, isn’t that sad!!
cinback says
Brilliant! I think I hear MY Christmas tree calling me…
Amybug says
this made me smile big time. we’re moving to a new house here in a couple weeks and I was just thinking about making smores in our new backyard. I don’t think there’s anything better – and using the Christmas tree? Seriously brilliant!
Susan C says
I can’t believe that no-one has commented on awesome your shoulders look. Forget the somemores, you’re looking great there babe.
Monique Nugent says
Hi Cathy coming from Australia, we also have never had smores. I think we could do it but what type of biscuits are graham crackers? I am presuming pretty plain? Sweet? Any ideas! Monique
Monique Nugent says
Hi actually I just googled it and apparently digestive bikkies are similar!
They look like so much fun!
Mon
cindy b. says
LOL!! This post cracks me up. Ironically, I was just talking about SMORES to someone else today and then I read your post…too funny!!
julie says
cheers for that cathy.
i have seen smores over the years on tv and movies and often wondered about the crackers. sis is heading to states soon – might have to add graham crackers to her long shopping list!
cathy says
yes! you should. a true slice of Americana!
Di says
Love this! Try them with peanut butter cups sometime but it will have to be kept totaly secret,would not want to break the points scale. Enjoy all the summer traditions yet to come
Melanie Hughes says
I feel smores may become a tradition with out family too, they look divine.
Glad to see we are not the only family who just got rid of their Christmas tree this week!
Shruti Goradia says
LOL, awesome post Cathy! Great tradition and I like that you’ve captured every step of this delicious and eco friendly tradition.
Kristal Jones says
Awesome post. Glad to know we’re not the only ones with a Christmas tree still in our backyard. There might be smores in my future! 🙂