In my family, any get together revolves around eating. There isn’t anything better than good food with family and friends. I just so happened to be born into a family that can cook very well and enjoys cooking. My mom is a very good cook. I loved being woken up to homemade waffles and French toast when I was younger. She also had dinner on the table every night and it was always delicious. My grandma is a really good cook too. There wasn’t anything better than my grandma’s home cooked meals and her pies were the best. Even her turkey sandwiches were better than any other I had tried. When I would go over to my grandma’s house, I wouldn’t be showered with money or gifts; I would have a lunch and nice dessert waiting for me. Instead of being spoiled with materials things, I was spoiled with love and food. Even though my clothes would reek of whatever my grandma would fix, I still loved going over to her house to eat and spend quality time with her.
Any family function there would be food. In my family it would be rude not to have a lunch or dinner at a family gathering. During Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter my family and I would travel to both of my grandma’s houses. My grandma Betty lives just about five minutes away from me and my grandma Doris lives about an hour and a half. We would drive the longer distance first to have lunch and spend time with family. It would be the same every year. All the women in my family would help make dinner and get everything ready. The men in the family would kick back in their recliners and watch sports. The kids would gather together outside and play while lunch was being made. The signature dish was turkey for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. We would have the traditional green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, casseroles, and rolls. At the end of the dinner we would have dessert. My grandma Doris was known for her cherry cheesecake and her angel food cake. There would also be the traditional pies like cherry and pecan. At my grandma Betty’s house near home it was operated the same way but on a smaller scale. My family near home is very small and it would consist of my grandma and aunt making the food. We would arrive just in time to eat dinner at her house.
Birthdays were extra special in my family, because you were able to pick what you wanted the rest of the family to eat. This was like the ultimate power and it was fun to pick out the menu for the day. Homemade ice cream cake was a must for my birthday. The main dish for my birthday was barbeque chicken which was then followed by bacon wrapped water chestnuts and twice baked potatoes. These dishes were special, because my mom didn’t make them very often. They took a lot of time to make and it was a special treat to have them. I really looked forward to my birthday dinner with my entire family.
It is clear that when my family gets together that there will be food present. Even on vacation my mom will go out of her way to make a nice dinner for us when we stay at a beach house or make sure we go out to eat somewhere good. She would even make breakfast every morning for everyone. My family is pretty old fashioned where the women in the family prepare the food, but it doesn’t mean that the men and children don’t help clean up when everyone is done eating. After looking back on some of our family traditions I think about how food is one of the major components. Eating and cooking food has brought our family together. All of the the food and family gatherings will be something that I will remember for the rest of my life and someday pass down onto my children.
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