That's what my kiddos and I did today. We cooked up a storm to feed our Grandma Mary and her brothers and sisters. They had a long day of making arrangements for Grandma Houseworth's memorial service. The kids remembered how sad Grandma Patty was when her mama died last year (Great - Grandma Crose) and they knew Grandma Mary would be very sad too. So....we made a feast!
Here was our menu:
Chicken and homemade noodles
Garden fresh green beans with onion and bacon
Pickled Beets
Hot rolls
Cinnamon rolls
The main theme for our meal was everything had to be a Grandma Houseworth recipe. Well, I'm not sure that "recipe" is the right word. I definitely cook like my Grandma did - measuring with the hollow of my hand, tasting, throwing in the flour until it's just right, ect. (Side note - I'm not quite ready to refer to Grandma in the past tense:-(. )
My mom always says it's not a recipe it's a taste we're going for. I'm not sure if it's the actual taste of the food, the enjoyment of eating it that fuels my love of cooking or if it's the experience of being in the kitchen with my grandma and my mom and my aunts. I think it's a combination. I know this much: food is an event, an experience to be enjoyed for our family. It's what our family is built around. My mom always says she and her sisters and sisters in law made a good time out of cleaning up the kitchen on Sunday afternoons by talking and laughing and sharing their week with one another. I had many conversations with Grandma over raw noodles drying on the long farmhouse style kitchen table. Just this summer Grandma and I snapped beans out in the yard with tea towels on our laps. "That's the way I've always done it since I was a girl. It makes it easier to shake the stems off," she said. I could go on and on...if Grandma's kitchen walls could talk someone would make a million bucks selling what they had to tell. That's the family I grew up in and it's the one I am raising my kids in. Hard topics are always easier to discuss when your hands are busy. And wisdom is best remembered when associated with a smell like apple butter simmering on the stove or cinnamon rolls baking in an oven. Here's a look into our "kitchen conversation" today.....
Dalton: What will happen to Grandma's house now? Can we not stop there anymore? I bet Grandma Mary is really sad to lose her mommy.
Luke: What will happen to her kitty cat? (Luke's my animal guy!) Is Grandma in heaven? I liked eating peanut butter cookies for breakfast!
Sissy: Will we take these noodles to Grandma's house? Will she be there? Will Grandma Mary be there? Did both Grandma Mary's teach you to make noodles? YOU are the BEST noodle maker aren't you mommy? (*not hardly!)
Charlie: You're a good mama stirrer! (This was a compliment for me, I think!)
Dalton de-boned both chickens and cut the noodles and unfolded them. Luke threw all of the scraps to the hogs and did a lot of the stirring as I sifted flour for the rolls. He was busy. Sissy rolled out the noodles with her pint sized rolling pin and stayed one step behind me for every other chore. Charlie rolled in the leftover flour on the table and then ran and rubbed himself all over Clint's recliner. What can I say? He's hilarious. Grandma always commented, "Margie has the cleanest kids. How does she keep them so clean? Their clothes are always spotless." I have no idea where that came from. I've never quite figured that out. Most people try to walk on the other side of the aisle just to avoid catching whatever it appears we're carrying. Oh well. It was sweet of her to say so!
Dalton was the picture taker today and hopefully I can post the ones he took. Sissy is my noodle girl. She and I always pull our hair back into handkerchiefs when we bake. My Grandpa was very particular about cleanliness and the kitchen (today they would call him OCD - LOL!) but Grandma was a stickler for everything being extremely sanitary because of it. So the hair must be pinned back and out of the way.
There will be more to post...the service is Friday and there will be many, many memories shared and made between now and then. I keep this blog mainly as a letter to my children.....to tell them of who they were from a time they won't remember. And to tell them of who loved them in that far off place called childhood.
Dear Kiddos,
Your Grandma Houseworth loved you. She loved you to pieces. She was tired and in a lot of pain by the time you came along, but if you have memories you won't remember her that way. She grinned and laughed and hid her pain from you. She let you get out all the toys, she fixed you cookies, she read to you. Most importantly, years before you ever came to be she loved you through me. And she loved me and you both through your Grandma Mary. Remember: the best investment you'll ever make (after spending time in the Word of God and in fellowship with His Spirit) is spending time with a child. Grandma invested, invested, invested in her children and grandchildren and great - grandchildren and even one great - great grandson. And now those investments are multiplied all over the state of MO and beyond, doing good and serving others and loving Jesus. When we come to our judgement time in front of God Almighty He will throw all of our works on this earth into a fire. Some things will burn up....they will have been a waste of our time and talents. Other things will withstand the heat of that fire and we will be rewarded. Many people invest their lives in many things. Fame. Fortune. But it will all burn up. Let me suggest another "f" word: Family. Be loyal to your spouse. Invest in your children. Love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. Very few people get "family" right. Your Grandma and Grandpa Houseworth gave you good roots a long, long time ago. Stay rooted in Jesus and you will bear much fruit and God willing some day you will have your own family trees to tell about. I love you right up to the moon and back - but Jesus loves you more than that.
xxoo
Sweet Mama
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