During a hike last week, I took the opportunity to catch up on my favorite podcasts – most of which are food related. Don’t ask me to recall which one I listened to that day, but the gist of the podcast focused on traditional foods for the holidays and the question, “Do we really enjoy those foods?’
Hearing this, my mind wandered back to the holiday season. I found myself content with all the wonderful holiday traditions we enjoyed these past few months. Some are experiences: a visit to Santa at Macy’s Union Square, the holding off on playing Christmas music until Thanksgiving dinner, the decorating of our Christmas tree. Others are traditions based in food: turkey for Thanksgiving, Joe’s Stone Crabs on New Year’s Eve, countless batches of holiday cookies, Grandma Marie’s Hoska on Christmas morning, homemade marshmallows, gluhwein . . . the list goes on and on.
Thanksgiving Traditions: The Good and Not-So-Good
As my thoughts immediately retreated to Thanksgiving, I found myself questioning the bird in the center of the table. We only make turkey once a year, and I have to admit, that if it wasn’t for the gravy, I’d probably not put it on my plate. IMO, Thanksgiving is more about the side dishes! I long for the cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, scalloped potatoes – move over turkey and make way for the side dishes!
With all this said, I understand that making the Turkey the centerpiece of the meal is the ‘thing to do’ for Thanksgiving (unless you’re vegan). I’m not sure we’re ready to extract it from our mealtime traditions (especially since I haven’t asked the family), so I turned to another tradition that we did do away with this year: The green bean casserole.
It’s not a recipe that appeared on the Thanksgiving table of my childhood, but something Greg’s mother made. So, because it was the tradition for him, we incorporated it into our family tradition. However, it was never much of a hit around here with my kids. So this year, as Greg and I were planning this year’s Thanksgiving menu, we agreed that the green bean casserole just wasn’t appealing enough to us to keep it on the table this year (whew) — opting to put taste over maintaining a tradition.
Christmas Traditions
As for our Christmas food traditions, we’re pretty content with our choices, with none of them falling into the ‘I don’t particularly care to eat this food, but it is a family tradition, so I will’ category.
However, that podcast reminded me of something sitting in my pantry. A fruitcake. It’s not just any fruitcake — but before I get into the reason why I have a fruitcake in my pantry, I have to say that this sticky, sweet and dense loaf often made an appearance during Christmastime in my childhood home. My grandmother (who lived with us) used to receive one, maybe it was purchased, I don’t know . . All I know is the look of it scared me as a child. I wanted nothing to do with it. I let Grandma (and perhaps my Dad), slice through it at Christmas.
It was this tradition, that brought the fruitcake to my pantry this year.
Last year, about this time, I flew to be with my father, who was in the hospital and headed to hospice care. He had been in the hospital for the past month, and his mail was stacked up on the counter at his house. As I began tending to the stack — paying bills, and sharing Christmas cards received with him — I came upon a small package. Inside was a fruitcake. I set it aside, not opening it for Dad to enjoy, as he was struggling with eating, and I thought it might require excessive chewing, which would be too much for him at the time. I was confident he would enjoy it later, when he had a bit more energy.
I never really asked my Dad about it, but now I wish that I had. Did he order this every year? I assume he did. Did he really like it? Not sure, but I believe it was his connection to the past most likely it meant something to him – enough so that he would order it for Christmas.
Perhaps that’s exactly what it was, a tradition that provided meaning to Dad – a connection to his own childhood family tradition. In retrospect, I wish I would have opened it that day and enjoyed it with Dad.
My New Tradition
Here I am a year later, and that darn podcast reminded me of Dad’s fruitcake. It’s buried deep in my pantry, probably moved from one spot to another throughout the year as I searched the pantry for this ingredient or that.
Today, as I make my way through the anniversary of his passing, I suppose it’s time to bring it out of hiding. I’ll take a slice and endure the tradition, but I’ll also be sure to wash it down with a shot of Tullamore Dew (one of Dad’s favorite drinks).
This, I must admit, may be a new tradition for me, one I will recreate on this date in the years to come. It’s a tradition that is mixed with something I like, and something I eat just because it’s a tradition. I’ll endure the fruitcake part of this tradition, as it is certainly a connection to my past, but I’ll also wash down that sticky sweet fruitcake flavor with the smooth taste of Irish whiskey.
Dad, you’re the inspiration for my new, January 8th tradition.
