Forever a Family
In technology times of the modern family, as children grow up and move away and the nuclear nest is replaced by the quantum leap of love with nuclear fallout that makes us think outside the lines of a Norman Rockwell painting, we may find ourselves needing to rethink our family traditions as we hold on tight to our core values. For me that means the first of many holidays to come when I will not be with all three of my children — starting with this Thanksgiving.
Growing up, I rarely was with my own mother during the winter holidays. Instead, I remember the home cooked memories of Grandma Pauline as she made every occasion an abbondante buffet. On thanksgiving she would cook a traditional bird, with stuffing and gravy made from the broth of boiled innards and an antipasto that had all the wonderful special bits that earmarked the special day. But grandma would also prepare a full lasagna with meatballs, brigole and pork morsels all simmered in her special plum tomato sauce. Grandpa Jerry’s sister graced the table with several of her specialty pies which somehow even after gorging ourselves since sun rise we still had room to sample before nightfall. Oh how I loved her lemon meringue.
As a vegetarian, I’ve spent the last dozen years perfecting a thanksgiving spread that was as close to Grandma Pauline’s masterpiece as possible. The best part for me was always cooking with my three children and I feel blessed to have so many warm as well as nutritious and sometimes decadent memories. So this year, as plans crystallized and I realized that I would not be with my three children on the third Thursday of November, we all got creative and yes, I admit a little bit cRaZy and we decided to have our special meal on Saturday night.
Now I know, that it doesn’t take a far stretch of the imagination to wiggle a holiday dinner to a weekend. But you see, my youngest daughter was in her first play, which of course makes any chronically ill mother get misty eyes to miss her performance but that’s a shaggy dog story for another day. My eldest was a dear and drove down for the weekend to visit and see her sister up on stage. So as we all put our heads together around everyone’s 36 hour schedule there was a point of realization that the only time we would ALL be able to sit down and share a meal would be midnight. So that’s exactly what we did.
Our lasagna with home made pot cheese would have made my grandmother proud. Trish and I tried a new tofu roast that turned out so tasty that I am certain it will be part of our arsenal of recipes archives for alternative holiday meals. The bread stuffing was baked to perfection and the onion gravy was thick and piping hot. Fresh cranberry sauce with a hint of ginger and of course a buttercup salad with pickled bits, artichoke hearts, black and green olives and sliced tomatoes rounded out our midnight “snack”.
There were eight of us around the small kitchen table. All elbow to elbow and smile to smile. It certainly wasn’t the Waltons and the censors would have had to bleep out some of the salty language, which we found funny in the wee hours of the night. Afterwards we were of course too stuffed for the home made new york cheesecake, but thinking outside the box we realized it would be the perfect breakfast for Sunday morning which was only a few hours away.
Yes. Lives change and we find ourselves spending more time texting each other and exchanging emoticons than we do actually seeing eye to eye. But we are still and will always be in each other’s heart. And somehow even if we are far apart on day that we wish we were closer to each other, we will always find a way to give thanks and feel fortunate that we are and will always be FAMILY.
