Giving thanks and making relish

Thanksgiving is just a week away and with it, my mind turns to the traditions and rituals of the years past.  Homemade cranberry relish was an event in my childhood kitchen.  There was a little black child's chair that was set on a mat of newspapers in the middle of the kitchen floor.  The television was brought from the living room on its rolling cart, and lined up opposite the chair work station, tuned to the annual broadcast of "The Sound of Music."  Mommy clamped a cast aluminum food grinder that had followed her from her childhood home to the front edge of the chair. A large baking dish was placed beneath to catch all the fragrant offerings that poured forth under the labor of the three daughters.  Mom stood at the counter sending us a steady supply of oranges, pineapple, cranberries and walnuts that we alternately ran through the grinder. As we filled the baking dish, she scraped it into her large kettle where the magic happened and ground fruits became a fragrant holiday treat.  We sang along with the music, and by the time the show ended we had made enough cranberry relish to see our family through the holiday season. 

Tomorrow, we pick up our turkey from an organic farmer up the road a piece and with that drive, mark the beginning of holiday meal preparation.  Many of Mom's favorite serving pieces are on the shelves in my kitchen, and I feel so close to her as I  go about preparing for these special meals and holiday entertaining.  She loved us all deeply and she shared her love of family and holiday, nurturing that love through recipes and techniques taught, meals shared and hospitality extended.  This year I will again offer a prayer of thanksgiving for my wonderful family, and having been blessed with a mom like no other, deeply missed.