Wow! Where has the year gone? I cannot believe how it has flown by and now we are approaching Thanksgiving. This time of year always bring the fondest of memories shared with my family. When I think of the things I am most thankful for I guess it is those memories that come to the front of my mind. The one thing great about memories and traditions; you can share them and build on them to make new ones.
The memory I have of the Thanksgiving holiday involves the smell of Mom's pumpkin pies, and coconut cake baking in the oven, and watching/helping her make her amazing cranberry relish.
She would pull out her old crank-handle meat grinder and set up the giant bowl on the counter. We would begin by washing all of the fresh fruit (cranberries, oranges (navels), and apples. She would start chopping apples and oranges into small enough pieces to go through the opening of the grinder. . Mmmmmm all of those fruity smells would fill the kitchen. That smell can send me back through the years in a flash. Then we would start grinding. This was the fun, but tiring part. As the years went by I was allowed to do more and more until one day I made the whole batch myself. I can remember feeling like I was finally grown up. Oh Mom was still right there chit chatting or correcting me on this or that (lol even if I felt I had devised a much better method! :) ), but the time spent together I would not trade for the world. Now that Mom has passed away, I still have her crank grinder, but it sits on the shelf while I use my Kitchen Aid grinder attachment!
We have hit that "all grown up" milestone with my daughter Goo this year. She washed cut and grinded all of the ingredients, then finished off with sugar, crushed pineapple, and chopped nuts. When she was finished she pumped her arms in the air and said "yes! I did it all myself!" A tear came to my eye (and for those of you that know me, that is a very powerful moment for me.) I thought how proud I was, how proud Mom would be of her. I thought about the memories we were making. Years from now when she is making cranberry relish with her children, she will tell them how she learned to make it and how "Mom" didn't always want to do it her way but how special the time was together just sharing the same air space and loving each other. When I'm sad and I miss those I love I can hold on to those loving memories with all my might.
So if there is a bigger point to this blog...... Make Memories with those you love every chance you get. We are not guaranteed tonight much less tomorrow or Thursday. If you were gone tomorrow what memories would you leave behind? How many hours of overtime you worked? How much money you made? How clean your house was? I'm guilty of all of these mistakes myself. However, one crystal glass filled with a beautiful memory reminded me what I was forgetting. So I'm passing the reminder on to you!
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