Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Gather 'round the open fire for Chimneyside Chats - a monthly feature with holiday stories from our favorite artists. See what's in their stockings this year as they reminisce on holiday memories, share their favorite recipe and more! Here's what folk/roots singer-songwriter and pianist Jeffery Straker had to say:

I perform an annual holiday show on the Canadian prairies and this year is the ninth year we’ll bring it to the stage. It started with a single night in a small 60-seat room in Regina, Saskatchewan and has grown to be a 10-show tour this year. The hometown show is now two nights in a 715-seat theatre. I call it, ‘A Very Prairie Christmas’, and along with a band I perform covers of the festive classics, a few obscure holiday tunes as well as a smattering of my own original seasonal songs. Between songs I banter with the audience and tell some funny stories of my Christmases over the years. Most of these stories have a prairie theme to them.

Riffing on the prairie mood of the show, a few years ago I decided to do a giveaway from the stage just for some fun gift-giving, and the audience loved it. That gift at each show was a “dainty tray”. “Dainty Tray” is the name used on the Canadian prairies for a dessert platter with a variety of squares, cookies, cakes, tarts, bars and the like - but they’re all cut or portioned ‘small’ hence the moniker ‘dainty’. Typically the baking is arranged on a platter that has a paper doily on it for some ‘presentation’. My partner of five years, Michael, is an incredible baker and on my social channels I’ve shared photos of some of the many cakes and baked treats he’s made for me over the years. Those posts always get lots of interactions. So at these shows when we shared that we’d be giving away a dainty tray baked by Michael, the audience loved it; you could hear a collective gasp each night.

We’ll be giving away a dainty tray at each of the 10 shows on the tour this year once again. It’s almost like The Price is Right when the winner runs up to the stage with the excitement of receiving… The Dainty Tray.

If you want to prepare a prairie dainty tray for a party you’re hosting, as a gift to give someone or just to have around your house for when guests drop in, here are some options I’d recommend choosing from. Note that the greater the selection, the more impressive it always seems to be for guests. Also, there’s no standard plate size for a dainty tray. You can make one on a small dessert sized plate (a mini dainty tray) and give it away as a gift, or you can make one on a platter the size of a pizza pan if you’ve got a lot of guests arriving.

(In my opinion the first seven items are a must for a proper prairie Dainty Tray)

• Butter tarts
• Shortbread cookies
• Gingerbread cookies
• Nanaimo bars
• Fudge or chocolate bark
• Confetti squares
• Fruit cake