Pies and pennies

Sunday

I taught my class about the spirit of Elijah.

I like to call it the scent of Elijah, because when I think of Grandpa, 

I can smell the sage that grows on the northern slope of the ranch.

Thursday we went to Pa Pa's house

Last year he bought us all the book Eat, Pray, Love

for our little book club,  and after we saw the movie he thought it would be

a fun spin to have Thanksgiving breakfast.

Because writer Elizabeth Gilbert wanted Thanksgiving dinner on her trip to Italy,

so she told her friend to cook the turkey and she would do every thing else.

About 15 minutes before dinner, she asked her Italian friend how the Turkey was doing.

"oh, should I cook it now?"

You get the picture...

They ate their Turkey in the Morning:)

He cooked ALL of these pies all by himself.

And...

get this...he made extra turkey and rolls for us to take home!

"with a little help from your mother."

he says

But she helped with a lot more than pies.

He also made the best HOMADE bread I have ever tasted!

All to honor her gift of cooking,

All to help us feel her there with us,

All to help his grandkids connect with the spirit of Elijah,

To know who they are and where they came from.

He then did the same traditions, he did when I was a child.

To celebrate my Danish side,

Dad has us save our pennies all year long, and then we stuff 

my great great grandfather's wooden shoe with the money.

Because in Denmark, their wooden shoes were stuffed the night before Christmas.

Then dad cooks muffins and puts one penny in the batch.

Then every one eats a muffin, and the one who gets the pennies gets the

money in the shoe!

This year it was my 3 year old nephew Derek!

No he didn't choke on the penny:)

Then we had Pine nuts and Jerky.

Why?

To celebrate my pioneer ancestors.

One christmas my great grandmother, after crossing the plains with her nine children,

widowed,

Could only afford a bag of pine nuts and some jerky.

So every Christmas of my Dad's life they ate pine nuts and jerky,

To remember the Christmas they had nothing but each other.

I grew up with the same tradition.

He even bought mom's favorite roses for the center piece.

And we tasted the Love in every bite.

Love you Dad.

(I am waiting on some pics to post our Thanksgiving dinner with the Smith Family)