Grandma’s Recipe Box
Last Christmas my wife, who is the world’s best cook, made old fashioned English toffee for me. I didn’t ask her to and we did not even discuss it. She just did it not knowing that it would bring back a rush of Christmas memories.
Food, like movies and music and just about anything else traditional, is something we hang on to at Christmas. We love the new stuff. But we really love the old stuff. And we want it again and again.
Part of my wife’s love for food comes from the connection it gives her to others. She’s legendary, of course, among our children. Sandy makes a chicken pot pie and her chicks come running home at the first whiff of it.
As Gram, she’s legendary for many things: bread, pea salad, the world’s softest cookies and all manner of pies.
Among her prized possessions are the recipe boxes of two grandmothers – one each from her Mom and Dad’s sides of the family. Nobody else wanted these well loved relics of days gone by. They are just as you suppose – small wooden boxes filled with index cards, folded up bits of paper, and even napkins with quick scribbles.
Of course, they have sentimental value. Handwriting in any form is cherish after one passes on but to have it in the form of a beloved recipe seems to be an expression of love that never fades. She goes to the boxes all the time for inspiration and to remember.
She pulled the boxes when she made the English toffee. I don’t know how she settled on the final recipe but there was something in the way it looked and smelled and tasted that took me back to my Grandma.
My Grandma was such a sensible lady. Eating at her house meant getting a balanced meal.
My wife never got to meet her but I’m thought many times how famously they would have gotten along. As breadmakers, they are exactly the same. I can remember Grandma rolling her dough – she was famous for her wheat rolls, which she made fresh everyday – and she would comment about it. “Oh, these are going to be good,” she would say. Or, “The humidity is way too high today for these to turn out right.”
For the simple knave I was Grandma’s rolls were consistently great. No matter the humidity or how much she apologized in advance when they did not meet her standards. My wife is the very same way.
So when the toffee came last Christmas it was a real treat because Grandma only made it at Christmas. And it wasn’t a feature – it was an accessory to an otherwise healthy meal. I can remember as a kid savoring every bite because when it was gone it was gone – and it wouldn’t be back until next Christmas.
Food and love and Grandmas are just that way. Special. Meant to be remembered. And savored.
Everyone has someone’s old recipe box hanging around. Everyone has their favorite Christmas recipes as well.
For years we have been building a repository of recipes at our sister site, MerryChristmasRecipes.com. It’s a simple site. It’s just about Christmas foods.
We believe the time has come for us to step on the gas a bit when it comes to building up our recipe database. We have set up a new Christmas event here at MyMerryChristmas and you are all invited to participate.
I figure if we all chip in, by the time another 30 years in our history rolls by, we should have at least a couple of million Christmas recipes.
Our new Share-a-Recipe event is designed to reward you for your Grandma’s Christmas recipes – you know, your favorites. Stop being so selfish and start sharing your Grandma with the rest of us.
We’re reward you. See the Share-a-Recipe page for details but basically it boils down to this: a free 1-year premiere membership to the Merry Forums if you share. It’s an awesome deal because your Grandma deserves the recognition for making those Christmas goodies for you.
