Having grown up in a Jewish family, I had little knowledge of what really happens on Christmas morning.

During my first, rather short, marriage, we did have a Christmas tree but our daughter was an infant during her first Christmas, and during her first two Christmases following, I put the Christmas tree in Darcy’s playpen, figuring she was safer if the glittering tree was as far away from her as possible.

Years later, when I met my soon-to-be husband and his family, Christmas became so many gorgeous traditions I still remember them all. The first Christmas with Doug and his family in Rochester and East Bloomfield, we would drive to Doug’s father’s church, during which Doug would turn the pages as his father, a professor of theory at the Eastman School of Music, played the organ for the choir on Christmas Eve.

That night we would stay at Doug’s sister’s house, where my parents, Doug’s parents and Roslyn’s parents-in-law would sleep in bedrooms while the four children and we parents would slumber in sleeping bags in the living room.

The next morning we had breakfast before even one present was unwrapped. It isn’t as if the kids were not champing at the bit to open presents; rather, this was a tradition that even our children understood.

Usually it was pancakes or French toast, bacon and juice for the younger ones, and lots of coffee for us.

As the children grew up and had children of their own, when we were together Christmas, we continued to have breakfast before presents, and breakfast became frittatas and overnight French toast; this can be made the night before and refrigerated before baking the next morning.

Baked Apple French Toast with Hazelnut Crumb Topping

From The Apple Lover’s Cookbook by Amy Traverso (W.W.Norton, New York, 2011)

Yield: serves 6 to 8

For the French toast:

Butter for greasing the 9- by 13-inch baking dish

6 large eggs

1 cup whole or 2 percent milk

1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 pound loaf of challah or brioche, cut in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise into one-quarter inch slices

2 large tender-sweet apples (about 1 pound total), peeled, cored and sliced into one-quarter inch thick slices

For the topping:

3/4 cup hazelnuts (cashews or almonds can work, too)

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons (one-half stick) salted butter, cut into small cubes

The night before (or at least 2 hours ahead), generously grease the baking dish with butter. Whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Arrange bread slices in the prepared dish so they overlap. Stick apple slices in-between bread slices, then pour egg mixture over all. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse nuts, brown sugar, flour and butter to firm a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle the topping over the bread.

Bake until custard is set and the topping is gold brown, about 1 hour. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then serve from the dish with maple syrup.