Think of her as Santa’s kitchen elf.

For more than 35 years, Anne Throneberry has been the face of Christmas for the Duck River Electric Membership Corporation headquartered in Shelbyville.

In November each year, the home economist develops and presents a popular holiday foods program in each of the counties the DREMC serves. Participants take home tons of decorating ideas, as well as a recipe book with more than 100 recipes that Throneberry spends a full year developing and testing recipes such as Double Chocolate Nut Clusters.

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Cooking has been a lifelong passion for this Rutherford County native. Throneberry learned to cook at her grandmother’s elbow in the tiny community of Rockvale.

“My grandmother Farris had 10 boys, and I loved cooking with her.” Throneberry muses. “My grandfather had a country sawmill, and she cooked lunch for them every day.”

From Rockvale, Throneberry went on to major in home economics at the University of Tennessee and taught school for a few years before joining the DREMC as a home energy specialist. Over the years, she has developed hundreds of recipes for co-op members. She even wrote and published two cookbooks of her own that are currently out of print. “I sold every copy I ever had,” she notes.

Quick to share credit, Throneberry says her husband, Randy, often brings home recipes for her to test and further serves as a “very supportive taste tester.” To get ideas for additional recipes, she consults family and friends, as well as the more than 500 cookbooks she has collected over the years.

Though she retired from the DREMC in 2009, Throneberry’s former supervisors insist that she continue her holiday program. She agreed for two reasons – people still love the program, and she still loves Christmas.

“It’s just a part of who I am,” Throneberry says. “I have a Christmas tree in every room, even the bathroom! I pass along my ideas and recipes because I want everyone to gather in the kitchen and make their own memories.”

Get the Recipe: Double Chocolate Nut Clusters