- [Stephfond] Tonight on WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories," what does it take to pick the right Christmas tree?

One family continues the tradition of cutting their own tree each year at Simmons Farm.

And Captain Dominic Nickel of the Watertown Salvation Army joins Johnny Spezzano in the kitchen for a bread pudding recipe you'll want to create this holiday season.

Also, Ottawa's Renee Landry shares an original Christmas tune to bring this holiday episode full circle.

Your stories, your region.

Coming up right now on "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories."

(bright music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories," is brought to you by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, Carthage Savings, CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, the Richard S. Shineman Foundation, and the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

- Good Tuesday evening everyone, and welcome to this edition of "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories."

I'm Stephfond Brunson.

We're just a few short days away from Christmas.

This season Christmas tree farm owners say they're getting more and more customers looking for the real thing.

Our Joleene DesRosiers set out to find out if this is true and share tips on how to keep a real tree healthy for the holidays.

Joleene.

- Oh, there's nothing like a real Christmas tree.

And for those of you that haven't experienced the cutting of it, the adventure of it, there's so much here to enjoy.

I am at Simmons Farm in Copenhagen, New York.

There's lots of farms throughout the north country, and if you've never cut a tree down before, even if you have, here are some really great tips to ensure that your tree lasts longer.

- [Speaker] Oh, here we go.

- [Joleene] As the saying goes, "There's nothing like the real thing."

At Simmons Farm in Copenhagen, acres of fir trees yield rows to walk, saw and sled through.

Those in the field shaking and investigating are looking for the ideal tree.

For these families, artificial trees aren't the answer.

- Artificial trees are made in China.

They're made from oil product.

If they end up in the landfill after so many years, they don't decompose for years and years and years.

They will contain dust mites when they're put up in your attic.

- [Joleene] The Desormo family knows this.

They also know how much tradition means to the family.

And for a few decades now, they've made this acreage a yearly pilgrimage.

- When I was a kid with my brother and my parents and my cousin and her parents were a very close family.

And we'd go every year to cut down our Christmas tree and we marched through the snow and the cold weather and pick out our tree and we wanted to carry on the tradition we've got now.

My cousins all grown up too, and we've got all of our own kids.

And it's one of those yearly traditions that we want to keep going as the family goes on.

- [Joleene] So what are you doing right now?

Are you trying to see if the needles fall off?

- Well, if the branches will fall down so there's no bare spots in the tree.

And then we see if it's full, but it's acceptable to have one side that doesn't look as good, 'cause then her and I can put it in the corner at the house.

So right now at our house, we have 26 foot ceilings, so we always like to try to get an 11 or 12 foot tree.

And it's a tradition between my mom and I and we always just find the biggest tree and how many lights we can get on it.

And we also have a ton of family ornaments that my brother and I, since we were little, have been able to put on the tree.

And the bigger the tree the better at this point.

- [Joleene] With tradition comes responsibility.

Real Christmas trees need extra special care.

And if that care is put in place, the tree will last longer.

- The first thing I would say is to know where your tree comes from.

If you're gonna buy a tree, a live tree from a big box store, it's probably been cut months ago.

Number two is to keep it watered.

If you buy a tree off a lot make sure that there's not a ton of green needles laying on the ground underneath your tree.

There will be brown needles because a lot of trees they'll have a natural die back.

If you're not gonna put it right up keep it where it's cool, out of the wind, out of direct sunlight, put it in some water.

And if you're gonna wait a few days to put it in, give it a nice fresh little cut on the bottom.

- [Joleene] Avoid putting your tree up near a heat source too, like radiators or near the fireplace.

Following these simple rules will make all of the sawing, dragging and bailing worth it.

- Tradition's one of those things that gets passed down and I would hope that when my kids grow up, that they realize that it's the pastime of doing it with your family.

Spending time with your family, you're outta the house, you're away from your screens, you're freezing your tail off.

And of course, warming up at a restaurant with some good food afterwards is definitely the bonus.

- Every morning when I wake up, it's always this fresh, crisp just a Christmas spirit and a Christmas smell throughout the whole entire house.

And just the smell of fresh pine too.

It's just a great tradition to come home to, or wake up to in the morning.

- [Joleene] In snowy Copenhagen, for "WPBS Weekly," I'm Joleene DesRosiers.

- After the hunt for the perfect tree, why not gather in the kitchen for the creation of a holiday recipe?

In our next segment, Johnny Spezzano of the Border is doing just that, with Captain Dominic Nickel of the Watertown Salvation Army.

Stick around, because this British holiday favorite just might become part of your recipe book.

(bright music) - Hey, come on.

Hello and happy holidays.

Welcome to Johnny on Fire.

Welcome to my kitchen.

I'm Johnny Spezzano.

And with me my special guest, this is Captain Dominic Nicoll, from the Salvation Army Watertown.

He's the director.

Hello.

- Hi.

- Glad to have you here.

We're gonna make a traditional holiday pudding, which is a sticky pudding, sticky bread pudding that we use day old bread.

And of course it's important to remember, during the holidays to remember others.

And of course, the Salvation Army does so much for others.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah, we're gonna be talking about the red kettle, but let's get down to cooking.

Do you do much?

- A little bit here and there.

- Can you use a knife?

- Possibly.

- Captain, we'll have you help us out.

We're gonna start with this day old bread.

We're gonna cut it into pieces, into slices.

It's best if you use something that's been around the house for a little while.

Of course, the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen is a very important part of our community over on State Street.

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

We're feeding anywhere from a hundred to two hundred people a day right now.

- Wow and I understand we're gonna talk more about this too.

You guys are opening your doors as a warming center as well.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So we're gonna be bringing in anybody that's in need, up to 20 people, to come and use our gym to have a safe night's sleep.

- Now pudding...

I hear a little accent Captain.

- Yes.

- You've lived here in Watertown for a year or two now.

- Yeah, about a year and a half now.

- But where do you hail from?

- Yeah, I'm originally from England, so a bread pudding is pretty significant to me.

- So what we're gonna do, we're gonna take this bread.

You did great.

But we need to cut it up just a little bit more.

So what I'm gonna do, Captain, you did good.

We're just gonna throw one more slice like this, and then we're gonna soak it in four cups of milk.

I'm gonna go over the ingredients, but let's get our bread soaking.

Okay.

Wanna throw it right in there for me?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- So we've got four cups of milk in a bowl.

Go ahead and shred it up a little bit.

The day old bread helps, because it doesn't fall apart when it goes into the milk, which is gonna be handy later.

And we're wasting nothing, which is nice right?

- [Dominic] Yeah, that's great.

- All right, so we've washed our hands.

Now we get to get our hands dirty.

You want to do this?

- Absolutely.

- Push that bread right down into that milk.

That's it.

Get it all saturated.

Just like that.

I'll grab a towel for you.

All right.

That's good.

Let it sit right in there, Captain.

Take this.

- Thank you.

- Okay, now let's go over the rest of our ingredients.

Okay, you're gonna need eggs, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and some raisins.

We're gonna combine the eggs and sugar in a bowl right now.

We'll whisk it.

(bright music) I was watching you Captain, the way you smooshed that bread.

You act like you've done this before.

- Yeah.

This is a traditional thing back home.

The butter pudding, with the raisins and stuff that's something that I got to enjoy a lot as a kid.

My mum would always make great desserts like this.

So we would normally finish it off with a British custard, nice and runny.

Nice and warm rather than a caramel.

But it sounds good.

- Ah, this is gonna be good.

All right, well, let's continue.

I'll let you add the raisins.

Now we are doing something a little different.

We're gonna cook this on the wood fire.

Did you ever do that back home?

- [Dominic] No, I did not.

- Yeah, so hopefully we don't burn it.

Mess it up.

So we're going to add our egg and sugar mixture and our raisins.

Oh, this looks good already.

Okay, now keep in mind you're using that day old bread, that stale bread, the drier, the better.

You could even go to the grocery store and ask them if they have any day old bread that they could sell to you.

All right.

So we're gonna mix it all together.

Now, I have to say, I became a fan of pudding.

I travel sometimes to Jamaica, and there's a guy I met there named the Pudding Man.

- [Dominic] Oh, wow.

- And he makes a number of different roadside puddings.

You pull over along the road and they're right there baking alongside the road.

- [Dominic] That sounds great.

- And it's a lot of fun.

All right, so we're gonna add this to our baking dish.

All right.

Now we did pre-butter this, so if you want to throw a little butter in the bottom of the dish, it keeps it from sticking.

All right.

How's this looking so far?

Like home?

- Oh, yeah.

- All right.

Yeah, we're gonna flatten it out.

And then we've gotta get the fire ready.

- Okay.

- All right.

You ready for this?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

We're gonna make some room and prepare the fire so we can bake our pudding for 40 minutes.

So if you're doing this at home, 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

(bright music) So we're gonna let that cook.

Now we do cool the oven down a little bit.

So it's at 350 degrees.

I got a little thermostat that we can check that with.

So while that's cooking, we'll talk to the captain a little bit more.

Watertown Salvation Army on State Street.

You guys do an incredible amount of good for people when sometimes they're at their lowest point, right?

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

We try and help anybody that may be just in a tough spot right now, or been in a tough spot for a while.

It doesn't matter how they got there.

What matters is, is how can we help?

So that's why we tried to fit in.

- So it could be a warm meal.

And I understand you guys have now started a warming station.

- Yeah, the idea is that, people need somewhere to go.

They need to be warm, they need to be fed, and that's why the Salvation Army wants to step in.

Our first go around is that we're a church.

We're there to meet the needs of people high and low.

And so that happens from time to time.

People get low, and hopefully we can be a stepping stone to help them out.

- Do you do anything for children?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So during the school year, we actually do just a drop in center thing on a Thursday night.

We have kids all from over the community coming in, and we're able to provide them with a good dinner.

We provide 'em with some fun and games.

We provide 'em with a Bible lesson.

So they get to come in and just enjoy a night where they can know that they're safe.

Parents don't have to worry about what they're doing out in the community.

They know that they're with us and they're having a good time.

And so we're able to take that and we use that over the summer as well.

And we do a summer drop in, which runs for about six to eight weeks.

And it's a great time to just spend with these kids and just try and give 'em a safe place to go to have fun, but again, fill in that need of feeding them.

- Let me ask you a question about you.

How did you get involved with the Salvation Army?

- Yeah, so my parents were Salvation Army officers back in England, and it almost pushed me away for a little bit, 'cause seeing what they were dealing with day in day out, it was hard, meeting the needs of people on a day-to-day basis.

It is straining at times, but it's something that I just fell in love with.

I came over to America and worked on a summer camp that the Salvation Army have in Senneca Lake, and just fell back in love with everything that the Salvation Army does.

And a few years later, I married a girl I met at that camp, and we both just got pulled into this ministry, into this idea, into what the Salvation Army is, and just really meeting the needs of people wherever they're at.

- Well, you guys do an incredible amount of good in our community now.

This red kettle.

Let's talk about that.

- Yeah, so it was started by a captain out in San Francisco back in 1891.

He was trying to come up with a way on how he could do a Christmas meal and feed people, but he had no money really to do that.

And so he remembered back from Liverpool in England, they used to have a big pot out and people could throw the change in and it would help feed a meal here and there.

So he took that idea and he ran with it.

And now all these years later, we're still running with these red kettles, trying to make some money.

And we still do the same things today.

We do a Thanksgiving meal.

We just had one and we're serving over 800 people a year right now through these Thanksgiving meals, which is just crazy for this community.

But it's something that we're so happy to do, to fill those needs.

And Christmas, obviously right around the corner now and we're able to help with toys.

We're able to help with meals again.

We make sure every family that needs one goes home with a turkey, with stuffing, with cans of vegetables, anything like that, any way we can step in to just give that community help, we love to do.

- Do you guys have a goal of how much money you wanna raise this year?

- Yeah anywhere between 65 and $70,000 is really the need that helps us just get through all year.

The community knows we do a bunch of different fundraisers through the year but this is our big one.

This is the one that helps us get year in, year out, and make sure that we can continue meeting those needs for the people.

- Are the kettles out till New Year's?

- They're out until December 24th, so Christmas Eve and we're all done.

By that point, they've been out since the beginning of November and we are ready for a break.

- Hmm.

Well, I'll tell you what, I wanna make a donation right now while we're here.

I'll just throw a few bucks in and everybody do the same.

Support your Salvation Army here in Watertown and around the world, and you can make a difference.

- Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

(bright music) - Woo, it's hot.

Shall we dig in?

Does it look like home?

- It does.

It smells good too.

- Now we did make a sauce to go on it.

It's a half a cup of butter, a cup of sugar, an egg, and a little bit of bourbon, which we burned off all the alcohol, because you said that you can't have alcohol.

- Yeah, no alcohol in the Salvation Army.

- All right.

So you ready to dig in?

- Absolutely.

- Are we ready at home?

Is the crew ready?

You know they are.

I got enough plates for everybody.

I'll tell you what I want to do too, just to make this really scrumptious.

Oh, look at that.

Wow.

Let us make a little caramel design all the way around like this, and then we'll take our glaze, and just spoon it right over the top.

One more.

You want the first bite?

- Absolutely.

- Happy holidays, everybody.

There you go.

- Mm.

It tastes just like my mum used to make it.

- Right.

Let's do this again here.

I can't wait to try it.

Thank you so much for joining us for another Johnny on Fire.

If you get a chance, check out my Dinner at Johnny's podcast.

You can get it wherever podcasts are.

I really appreciate you coming into my kitchen today.

And mangia, let's eat.

- Yeah, thank you.

- Mm.

Mm-hmm.

- Yeah, good.

- Wow, this is so good.

- Mm.

- Mm.

Thank you all for watching.

Happy holidays.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you.

- [Dominic] Again, thanks for having me.

This is great.

- [Johnny] Yeah, I just wanna eat.

- As we wrap up this holiday edition of "WPBS Weekly," we do so with a Christmas song, but not just any song.

Vocalist Renee Landry of Ottawa knows just what to ask Santa for in this next tune.

Enjoy.

(bright music) (gentle music) ♪ I don't need no jewels and things ♪ ♪ To fill my heart's desire ♪ ♪ All I want's the kind of love ♪ ♪ That sets my soul on fire ♪ ♪ What do I want for Christmas ♪ ♪ What do I hold so dear ♪ ♪ I don't need much at Christmas ♪ ♪ Just to have my baby near ♪ ♪ What do I dream and hope for ♪ ♪ What is my heart's desire ♪ ♪ I don't need much at Christmas just ♪ ♪ To have my guy ♪ ♪ I don't need no silver and gold ♪ ♪ To make my spirits bright ♪ ♪ No fancy things or diamond rings ♪ ♪ To get me through the night ♪ ♪ So what do I want for Christmas ♪ ♪ What do I hold so dear ♪ ♪ I don't need much at Christmas just ♪ ♪ To have my baby near ♪ ♪ I don't need no silver and gold ♪ ♪ To make my spirits bright ♪ ♪ No fancy things or diamond rings ♪ ♪ To get me through the night ♪ ♪ So what do I want for Christmas ♪ ♪ What do I hold so dear ♪ ♪ I don't need much at Christmas just ♪ ♪ To have my baby here ♪ ♪ I don't need much at Christmas just ♪ ♪ To have my ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Near ♪ That does it for us this Tuesday evening We're off for the rest of the holidays but we'll see you in the new year for a fresh look inside the stories.

Meantime, if you or someone in your community has something meaningful, historic, inspirational, or educational to share, please email us at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org, and let's share it with the region.

That's it for now, everyone.

We'll see you again in a few weeks.

Goodnight and happy holidays.

(bright music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories," is brought to you by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, dedicated to improving the wellbeing of communities by helping disadvantaged children and families.

Online at dmjf.org.

The Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, a free resource offering confidential business advice for those interested in starting or expanding their small business.

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Online at watertown.nysbdc.org.

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They're proud to support WPBS TV online at carthagesavings.com.

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Additional funding provided by CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, the Richard S. Shineman Foundation, and the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

♪ So dear ♪ ♪ I don't need much at Christmas ♪ ♪ Just to have my baby near ♪ (gentle music)