Is your family big on holiday traditions?
Mine is.
And I am fond of many of them, really.
Especially the ones we have on Thanksgiving. Christmas Eve is my number ONE favorite night of the year, but Thanksgiving is a close second. It has everything, really…family, fun, tradition and pumpkin pie.
We do NOT watch football and we DO assemble huge puzzles, lounge about, laugh, and it is, of course, the time that we break out Christmas Carols and sing and then that night we always (usually) (some of the time) (really it is highly dependent on my sanity and preparedness level) (and this year, for various reason…no. SO not in the mood, dude) (BAH! HUMBUG!) set up our Christmas tree and decorate the house.
Most important on the list: EAT.
My family is HUGE on food. And even HUGER on PIE. (I don’t care what you say, Webster. ‘Huger’ is TOTALLY a word.)
We have simple tradition in my family*: We only make pumpkin pie.
LOTS of pumpkin pie.
About 2-3 dozen every Thanksgiving, depending on the year and my mother’s energy. Again, they are all pumpkin. I DO make 2 chocolate pudding pies on my own time because my husband doesn’t like pumpkin pie.
(I KNOW, right?!)
(I seriously don’t know how he copes.)
(Although, that also means there is more pie for me, so really, I think I’m OK with it.)
This is one of my very favorite holiday traditions and memories: making pie for thanksgiving with my mother and sisters. It began the way most of the truly memorable and loved traditions in families start…by all being together and doing something that brings you closer as a family unit. We all love pie, my mother makes the best pie crust on the planet and working together to make the quantity we consume takes teamwork and includes lots of love and laughter. (Unless someone is really cranky. But then we just through little balls of pie dough at one another until the bad mood goes away. You should try it sometime. Pie dough wars can be hugely therapeutic.)
We start making pies about 3-days before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving breakfast is ALWAYS a slice of pie.
(Hush. It’s fabulous, y’all.).
(I probably shouldn’t mention that I LOVE, err…’sampling’ the pumpkin pie mix.)
(Yup, you heard me. I could drink it by the cupfuls.)
(Again, hush! Do not knock until you’ve tried it.)
(And no horror stories about salmonella, either!)
(If I die from it, I die a happy, happy woman!)
(Is it weird that I love this and loathe eggnog?)
(Probably.)
Where were we again?
Oh, yes! Holiday traditions!
I love the family traditions we have. Well, I love MOST of the holiday traditions we have. But there are a couple that I am very decidedly NOT fond of. One of them being…(looking around to see if maternal parental figure is somehow lurking around the shadowy corners of this blog)…my mother’s annual “Red Punch”. (Mom, if you’re reading, I love you…I really, really love you. :) )
I. cannot. stand. it.
The recipe is straightforward. Take 2 liters of fizzy lemon-lime soda and dump a big bottle of Hawaiian Punch Concentrate into it.
Now, look, I am not out to be hating on Hawaiian Punch, but I just DO NOT LIKE this punch. I didn’t as a child and to be honest, the feeling hasn’t diminished with my advancing age over the years.
Every year I beg her to make something else, but no…that punch always makes an appearance.
I was ALL set to change things up and even nabbed the drink assignment for Thanksgiving dinner but alas, fate intervened and our plans changed. We’re having Thanksgiving with Jonathan’s family this year instead.
But next year?
I WILL BE READY. Somehow, some way, I will once again manage to get assigned beverages and stealthily “forget” to buy Hawaiian punch until it is TOO LATE! MUWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Or, I guess I could just go to a convenience store and bring a Diet Coke with me.
Problem solved.
(Damn, I love simple solutions.)
*This only applies when dining with MY family. This year we are at Jonathan’s family and I am in charge of pie. So, 2 pumpkin, 2 chocolate cream and one huge deep dish of my apple, pear, cranberry crumble pie are sitting in my kitchen ready for hungry appreciative pie lovers to mack like sea otters** on them!
** Don’t ask me to define “Mack like sea otters”, dude. (Just use your imagination.) (I know you can do it. :) )
Stumble it!
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