From her helpful cooking tips to her overall positive and fun-loving attitude, it's no surprise that former preschool teacher Barbara Castillo -- a.k.a. "Brunch With Babs" on Instagram -- has become everybody's favorite internet grandmother over the last couple of years. And while cooking may be her specialty, there is another thing the 76-year-old just can't get enough of: the holidays!
Woman's World recently sat down with the mom of four and grandmother of eight, who opened up about how she likes to spend her holidays, what food she's preparing and what she hopes is under her tree come Christmas morning. All that and more are below.
Woman's World: You are very big on family recipes. Can you talk a little bit about the Costello family's beloved cookie recipe?
Babs Castillo: My family's fabulous Italian lemon cookies are made with ricotta cheese and lots of lemon. It's a fabulous recipe that my grandmother, my mother, my sister and now I have made for many years.
My mother was the queen of Christmas cookies, and now I can preserve this recipe for my kids.
WW: Your social media presence is all about bringing joy to people across the world. How does a partnership with Ancestry.com help with that?
BC: Ancestry is such a great place to preserve all those special family recipes that are so treasured.
I didn't realize this, but over half of Americans have lost treasured family recipes. Either they've been lost, or they're damaged and they can't decipher them. Then I found out that most of them had lost their family cookie recipes.
I have actually shared my family's fabulous Italian lemon cookies for the first time ever, and now I can preserve this recipe for my kids on Ancestry.com, because they have a place where treasured family recipes can be stored. And because it's digital, it won't get lost or damaged and can neverbe retrieved again. So, it's a great place to store your family history, including recipes and photos.
WW: Aside from the cookies, what are you most excited to make this holiday season?
BC: For Thanksgiving, we have a traditional turkey with all the fixings. I make a wonderful make-ahead gravy that is definitely going on Ancestry.combecause I already made it and have it in the freezer.
For Christmas Eve, after the kids were asleep, I always made my overnight breakfast casserole and my monkey bread. The next morning, when my kids were home, they ran down the stairs and opened presents while the overnight casserole and the monkey bread were in the oven. It smelled fabulous.
Every Christmas, my family makes pancakes and fills them with cheese and parmesan. I also make pasta and prime rib.
WW: Also, on Ancestry you can save old family photos and recipes. How has that process been for you emotionally?
BC: I found my grandmother's picture on Ancestry as a young girl with her parents, her brothers, and her younger sister. I got choked up because I was very close to my grandmother, but I only knew her as my grandma with gray hair.
Seeing your grandparents as young people is really quite emotional. I shared that with my cousins, and one cousin immediately got in touch with me and said, "This has been so profound; I can't tell you how it's affected me."
Finding out information about people in your life who you always saw as adults and then learning had a past that you didn't know about, is a very profound experience that happened through Ancestry because it is so much more than a DNA test.
It's such a wealth of resources where you can find out so much about your family and so much about your family's history that you thought was permanently lost. It really opened my eyes.
WW: How do you recommend that people struggling with their families connect with them this holiday season?
BC: You've got to put your toe in the water and invite family over. I think the hardest thing is just to pick up the phone or send that invitation. Once you stick your neck out and say, "I'm going to be the one that does this," I think the blessings and the benefits will be off the charts. You don't know how you're going to touch people who may be waiting for that invitation.
The holidays are an opportunity to reconnect with family, maybe a family you've lost touch with, but now you're reaching out and extending that invitation yourself. It can only be a beneficial thing.
WW: Finally, what is on your wish list this year?
BC: I just want to be with my family. I just want all of us gathered together and to keep making those memories as long as I'm around. It's such a special time of the year, and sometimes we get really kind of overwhelmed with all the to-dos, but in the end, I think it really is just about being together.