For the Mennonites of Otter Lake the Christmas season is both a time of fellowship and reaching out in the community.
 “It’s very much family time, while trying to be sensitive to needs around us, as well,” says Glenda Todd, wife of Otter Lake Mennonite Church Pastor Thomas Todd.
The season is celebrated with carolling at hospitals and at different homes in the community, especially where they know residents will be alone during the holidays. Cookies are baked and taken to inmates at prisons.
The student body and faculty at the Mennonite Christian day school also carol in the neighbourhood and usually have a Christmas program centering around the birth of Christ.
 “There’s a lot of singing and reflecting on what God has done for us,” says Glenda. “The most important thing to us is that Jesus came to live among men to redeem them. That’s why Christmas is important to us.
Because the Otter Lake group of approximately 20 Mennonite families settled as a mission outreach in the early 1970s, Christmas is a popular season for travelling.
“A lot of people travel to see family and friends because none of us were originally from this area,” says Glenda. “It was started as a mission outreach of the churches, so many of us have families in other areas that we go and see.”
Gift giving for the Otter Lake group of Mennonites is a mix of purchased items and hand-sewn presents, woodworking, crafts, and homemade specialties from the kitchen – depending on the various talents of the particular givers.
“And of course we’re all used to having traditional Christmas dinners,” Glenda adds.
Some of the Otter Lake Mennonite ladies have graciously agreed to share favourite holiday recipes which have been passed down from generation to generation in their families, along with a few creative tips they’ve discovered in their own kitchens.Christmas Fruit Salad
Brenda Gingrich remembers her mother serving this fruit salad with a plateful of fancy Christmas cookies and squares.
“It was a light dessert after a big Christmas dinner,” Brenda says. “My mom remembers it being served at Christmas and weddings. The peaches and pears used were home-canned ones.”

Christmas Fruit Salad Recipe
(See North Star reporter Stephannie Johnson create this recipe in the video to the left)

1 quart canned, cubed peaches
1 quart canned, cubed pears
1 large (540 ml) tin pineapple tidbits
1 or 2 oranges sectioned, and sliced OR 1 - 2 cups orange juice
1 to 2 cups red seedless grapes, halved
1 or 2 bananas, sliced (optional)*
1 box each of yellow, red, and green Jello

* Add bananas just before serving. If bananas are included, this salad doesn’t keep more than a couple of days.