Setting the table for a Filipino Christmas: Church, family and 'all the food'

This story is part of an Edmonton AM series showcasing the holiday traditions and favourite family recipes of four Edmonton families. 

For Ailynn Santos, the magic of Christmas comes in the form of her mother's mysterious skills in the kitchen. 

There is a dash of this and a dollop of that but no official recipe for her favourite holiday dishes.

The Santos family elders cook by feel, something that leaves Santos flabbergasted and amazed in equal measure.

"Like a lot of the recipes that my mom and dad make, the only frustrating part is they just don't have measurements for us, so we just had to watch them a couple of times," said Santos, who owns Yelo'd Ice Cream & Bake Shoppe in Old Strathcona.

"Their measurements always change but the end results always remains the same so it always just blew my mind." 

The same goes for her mother's famous leche flan, a traditional Filipino dessert made of perfectly-formed caramel custard.

The sweet has always been the centrepiece of her family's large Christmas gatherings.

Santos begged her mother for the recipe a few years ago but there was none to be had. She had to watch her mother make it again and again before she got the measurements right. Even then, her version doesn't quite measure up to the original. 

"My mom doesn't go by temperature or anything like that, so we'll try her way because her way is always the best way," Santos said.

"She gives them as gifts, that's what she does, that's how desired they are. She makes tins of them that are the size of a loaf of bread and she probably makes about 50 or 60 over Christmas.  

"My mom puts out the best leche flan that there is and we've tried a lot of them."

A traditional Filipino Christmas is a lesson in endurance. The country celebrates the world's longest Christmas season, with carols heard as early as September and celebrations lasting until the Feast of the Santo Niño on the third Sunday of January. 

Christmas Eve (Bisperas ng Pasko) on Dec. 24 is celebrated with midnight mass, and the traditional Noche Buena feast.

"There are a lot of church celebrations but it's all about that feeling, so everywhere you go, there are lights everywhere and people gathering and gifting food. You can't go anywhere without bringing a plate of something to share." 

And when it comes to the holiday menu, anything goes. Everything from crispy pork and rotund cheese balls to salted egg with glutinous rice will be served in the same feast.

"You get to sleep in on Christmas morning because you're eating for like five hours after midnight," Santos said. "We have all the food. 

"I don't even know what classifies as a traditional Filipino meal anymore because you see it all. Anything that your parents have cooked, it's all there." 

In the Philippines, Christmas is a time for church, food and family and it is no different for the Santos clan.

Some of their family gatherings can have more than 100 people around the table. And everyone comes home for the holidays. 

"That's the one thing our mom has instilled in us," she said.  "She always said, 'I don't care what your problem is, you're getting together at Christmas and you're setting it aside' and we do. 

"We've never had a holiday where one of my siblings or cousins hasn't been there. She has definitely passed that onto us and that's definitely been passed down to the little ones as well."