Holiday Food Memory by Elyssa

The New Tradition of Fourteen Pies

Fourteen pies is a lot of pies. The possibilities of combinations can seem endless. The amount of time it takes to cook these pies can also seem endless, although the amount of time it takes to consume the pies comes too fast. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because of these pies.

Since my mother was born, my grandmother went beyond any expectation set for the holidays. Each holiday seemed even better then previous one, and not just for the food cooked, but also because of the lessons learned in the holiday itself. Thanksgiving always has the corny meaning that is always pushed into each other’s faces of being thankful for what we have and remembering why we are grateful for what we have. Yes, the holiday does go beyond dressing up like pilgrims in elementary school, and making hand turkeys. Its about truly discovering why you are thankful for what you have. Luckily, I discovered early in my life the importance of family tradition and even more importantly, the importance of keeping your most important family traditions.

Every year, my grandmother made fourteen pies from scratch. I’m sure at first she didn’t mean to make all fourteen pies, but having six different children with many different taste buds, to please everyone a few pies satisfied everyone. Once these six children got married and began to have children, the number of people to feed pies to increased. With this demand, we needed more pies.

Until the time my grandmother died in September of 2001, I never knew anything other then a huge thanksgiving dinner and the fourteen pies to follow. The following Thanksgiving was beyond unbearable. Losing my grandmother was one of the hardest experiences I’ve had to deal with in my life. Not to mention, she was the only good cook in my family. Thanksgiving for that year seemed pretty empty, I didn’t get my fourteen pies, and I missed my typical family traditions.

The next year to follow, I convinced my mom that with my help, we should make all fourteen pies. Yes, it was a lot of work, we went through a lot of burnt pie shells, and over done cheesecake. However, in the long run we discovered it was well worth it to keep the family tradition of making fourteen pies going. Through slaving over the kitchen stove and over for four days in preparation of our meals, my mother shared many stories about growing up with my grandmother and all the fun times she and her siblings had together. Its simple traditions like this that help me and my mother build a strong bond, and help our relationship grow. I think if my grandmother saw my mother and I every Thanksgiving, she would be happy she started the tradition. My mother and I have a new tradition now while keeping the older one alive, bonding with keeping traditions.