I've mentioned my holiday book before. It's a lined journal that I am in the process of adding all of the holiday recipes I've cooked over the years. I've also added a couple of pages of memorable family moments, some how-tos for our family Christmas crafts and decorating, the games that we played on holidays, as well as some pages of menus. Some day, my kids will have my recipes and be able to recreate their own favorites. And you know, I would like to leave some pages blank so they can add new ones, too.
What made me think about this today is that I've felt a need to get this done now. My rush isn't based on anything in my own life, but in the life of a good friend. My friend had planned to make a couple of books for the future generations of her own family. Only, life circumstances now prevent that from happening.
We never know when we will no longer be able to do those things that we feel will matter. This year my mind is still clear and I have decent energy to accomplish finishing a large portion of my holiday book. Next year, life could be different. I don't want to put off doing this. I have a fair amount of time to myself each day. I could be vacuuming or washing windows with that time. But I'd rather do something that I hope at least one of my kids values when I'm no longer here. I can guarantee you this, not one of my kids will think back and wish the windows had been cleaner.
Many years ago, I read a short story in a magazine. A mother was ill at the holidays. Her two daughters decided they would do all of the holiday work and cook and bake all the foods their mother had always made. This mother kept a personal cookbook that contained all of these family favorite recipes. The daughters were able to pull Christmas together when their mother couldn't. That story is what made me think I'd like to have a holiday book for my own daughters, son, daughter-in-law to consult and find those recipes.
My mother had a recipe card file, which I now have. I love going through her file and finding her recipes, most written in her own handwriting. Many recipes are indicative of the times she was a young mother, recipes from the 1960s and early 1970s. It's fun to thumb through her card file and see those foods that I remember and some that I don't. It's a piece of her that I have with me today. And I do make a couple of her signature holiday dishes from time to time.
I want my holiday recipe book to fill a place in my kids' lives when they want to remember their years with me at the helm of the kitchen.
As I've baked and cooked this Thanksgiving and Christmas, I've taken a few moments to copy my recipes into the book. Once I have the book mostly filled, I'll make an index for everything. I don't expect my kids will cook exactly as I do. But I do think they'll want to read the holiday book some day and have those warm feelings of remembrance.
Have you thought about how you will pass your family's favorite recipes on to the next generation? Do you keep a recipe card file that a grown child might want? Is your method of passing on your recipes just giving them to your grown kids as they request now? How will you pass those family favorite recipes on to your kids or grandkids?
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