Traditions of the Past( rough draft)

Brian Teasdale
Eng 121-023
Food Blog-rough draft
Oct. 04, 2010


Traditions of the Past (rough draft)

When I think of food, it reminds me of the family traditions that I partook in as a child. In particular, Christmas comes to mind. As a boy I grew up in Kansas, as part of a large family on my fathers’ side. He had six siblings-five brothers and a sister. Around the holidays, especially Christmas, all the family would gather at my grandparents’ house. My grandfather was a doctor who had a family practice of his own, which afforded them the opportunity to reside in a home that was quite large .They needed that space to raise and house such a large family. Since I was much younger at the time, I remember how excited I would be when I found out that we were going to visit my grandparents. To me the house was a castle with all of these rooms and cubbies to explore, as well as all the treasures that were waiting to be found in the large barn out back.

After playing with all of my nieces, nephews, cousins and so forth, we would all be called to gather around the feast that was prepared for us. On average there were to my recollection about forty to fifty of us in attendance for the annual family Christmas meal. Several large tables were set with all the trimmings of fine dining for the adults, while the smaller generations gathered ourselves around several smaller, less decorated and glorified tables (a card table is always a card table).The main room was always decorated with holiday trimmings, and a huge tree in the corner as bright as the sun, glistening with all its festive decorations, and of course many presets underneath it.

Gifts shall have to wait, as there was also an order to be followed on this day. The food line seemed to resemble a well organized assembly line to me. There were so many choices of food to eat; you couldn’t possibly fit all that you wanted on your plate. First in line was the meat, which usually consisted of turkey, a honey glazed ham, and some game bird (pheasant or quail).
Next were the fillers such as mashed potatoes (real), stuffing, green bean casserole, pasta salads, and fresh rolls. The table was then set with the veggies such as candied yams, mixed vegetables, carrots, and even some Brussels sprouts. The last area was one of my favorite, sitting there in beauty were the fruit jelloes, mixed fruit salads, and nilla wafer pudding. After eating our main courses, the desert spreads would be laid out. This consisted of just about every fruit pie imaginable, peach, cherry, apple, strawberry, and of course cookies. This was my favorite part of the meal. I would load up on peach pie, pecan pie, and an assortment of oatmeal, chocolate chip, sugar cookies and no bake cookies.

The no bakes were my favorite .My mother would bring those to the gathering. Growing up she always made them for our family and, to this day they are my favorite treat. I make them myself, once in awhile, but they are never as good as my moms. They are made of oatmeal, chocolate some other ingredients and require no baking. These are pretty easy cookies to make and they are mouth watering morsels of delight. After every one had finished eating, we would all gather in the Great Room, around the tree and wait, not so patiently for the gifts to be handed out. The gift giving would usually take quite a bit of time. After we got our presents, all of us kids would take off and the adults would clean up the messes. We would go back outside and play tennis, shuffleboard, or hide and seek games weather permitting. If it was to miserable outside for those activities, we would build a bunch of snowmen and occasionally an igloo.

Times have now changed. My father has passed on, my grandparents have recently passed on and the family is spread out even more over the country. We never have family gatherings like that any more. It seems ,as we have all grown up and gotten older, each part of the family has started there own traditions, and we never see each other, except for events that you don’t want to particularly occur ,such as a death in the family. It makes me a little sad to see how life has changed over the years with regards to the sense of family unity(the gathering of our large clan).Now I go to my mothers house ,who now lives in Kansa again ,for Christmas with my wife and daughter. It is now a very small, more intimate holiday with much less food, yet fulfilling all the same. We still have our turkey and ham, a selection of veggies and casseroles, and of course, my moms no bake cookies.