Not Just A Present . . . But A Memory

We always get together at Christmastime with my brother and his girls

We don't exchange presents any more . . . 

Haven't in a long time

But we do gift the kids with a gift --

It is Christmas after all!

But every once in a while, I do gift the girls with something

something special --

A memory shared, perhaps

or a memory to be made

This year it was a past memory

My Aunt Pearl, mother's sister,

was a maiden aunt

She lived with her mom

And her mom did all the cooking

Occasionally, Aunt Pearl would go into the kitchen to fix something special

fudge and divinity at Christmas

And sometimes a special dish

My nieces, Stacy, Crystal and Jennifer

Aunt Pearl's great nieces

enjoyed meals at Grandma and Aunt Pearl's

and then just at Aunt Pearl's

after we lost Grandma

One of her special dishes was the orange jello salad

And the girls still talk about it

Neither my Grandmother nor Aunt Pearl were recipe collectors

(Mother was)

nor did they have a vast selection of cookbooks

but I did get the two that they owned when Aunt Pearl passed away.

The first was Betty Crocker's Cookbook

which I used to pour over when I was a teen

and I was "forced" to spend Sunday with the family!

And this one

From Aunt Pearl's church

(she marched to a different religion than the rest of us)

I have two copies for Mom had one too 

(probably a Christmas gift from Aunt Pearl)

Mother's is pristine --

Not so Aunt Pearl's

I put it on my shelf and didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it --

it was, after all, a church cookbook of a certain time period

and most of the recipes inside were ones that I already had

in other church cookbooks

But because it was "family", I didn't get rid of it.

And then one day, I decided to look inside

And found this, in Aunt Pearl's hand

Her fudge recipe!

On a piece of paper was this cheesecake recipe.

I've never had homemade cheesecake at Aunt Pearl's!

But she must have eaten it somewhere, asked for the recipe

And tucked it inside her cookbook.

And then I found this -- loose -- obviously from a cookbook or handout of something.

Maraschino Cherry Cake

Nope, if she ate it, she didn't serve it to me!

But the true treasure of the book was this:

The recipe for the orange jello salad

Which she did make and did make often!

The girls had asked me more than once if I had it, and I had to tell them "no".

So I was thrilled when I found this page in the book.

And an idea was born . . . 

I found The Nesting Project on Etsy

I sent pictures, they sent proofs, I okayed the proofs and then I received this:

A tea towel -- one for each girl with the recipe printed on it

So now they have it and it's not just the recipe but a memory as well!

 Complete with Aunt Pearl's smudges and stains!

Merry Christmas girls!

I like it when you find a perfect gift!

The company was a pleasure to work with.

I'll keep them in mind in the future for other gifts.