It was always about the food. The food was the link to far-flung family and friends. Food tied together the variety of holiday traditions that I’ve been blessed with as I met so many people who shared their traditions with me as I moved from place to place.

All of my holiday traditions in January arise from my time in the Southeastern US. From beans & rice for New Year’s to King Cake on 12th Night, there’s a mix of long-standing traditions based on history and the church. The South, especially the area including New Orleans, the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the southern bit of coast in Alabama, has seen many flags over their lands since the Europeans arrived. All of those colonial periods left their cultures behind. Add in the whole history that includes the cultures of the indigenous peoples, the influences, faiths, and experiences of the oppressed groups, the antebellum period, the war, the reconstruction, share cropping, and the civil rights conflicts, you end up with a very rich history that even the little details have meaning. While Hoppin John is more traditional. I never managed to master greens and so I go with Red beans & rice instead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoppin%27_John

Then there’s King Cake. 12th Night, or Epiphany, is when the season of Mardi Gras begins. It starts with the visit of the 3 Wise men and runs until Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday. It was a tradition, where I lived in the South, to share King Cakes for the entire season. The lucky person who found the baby, or vanilla bean, in the cake was then designated to buy the next cake. Even after I left the South, I continued the tradition of making a King Cake at least twice for the season. Once to celebrate Epiphany and once to celebrate Mardi Gras.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake

King Cakes & Lent roam freely from January through March,but there’s one day that’s special and that’s Ground Hog Day. Why Ground Hog Day? It’s all the fault of Bill Murray, Harold Ramis & Danny Rubin. It’s an upper Midwestern tradition that has its roots in European cultures that was the focus of the movie “Groundhog Day”. The holiday itself is on February 2nd. Every year I watch the movie and enjoy the irony of repeating the cycle with the characters.

There are a lot of little holidays that I don’t really celebrate throughout the year though. St Patrick’s Day would be pretty big if I were a drinker. But alas, I rarely drink alcohol. April Fool’s Day often becomes nothing more than an excuse to be mean. Although one year I did try to do a positive prank. I told my kids that it was the dog’s birthday. We made cupcakes and a pupcake for the dog. We decorated the house with streamers and bought treats for all of us, including the dog. Once the party was all set up and we had sang happy birthday to the dog, I laughed and said April Fools! Since the dog’s birthday was really in August. But my daughters enjoyed the fruits of our labor and not a cupcake was wasted. Everyone was happy, especially the dog.

My holidays grow quiet until fall. I do celebrate the seasons but the patriotic stuff of our American summer holidays has been lost to me since my time in the military. I can’t celebrate Memorial Day with a burger. It is more a day of commemoration than celebration and I don’t enjoy the fireworks of the 4th of July. I’m the person staying inside with the pets.

Fall celebrations start with Halloween. Although I will begin to get itchy for cooler weather by the middle of September. These celebrations have changed the most. When my kids were little, it was the beginning of the magical season. With silly scary movies and tales, costumes and candy that led into baking season. The house smelled of cinnamon and bread baking. Now that they’re grown, it’s a calmer time and the neighborhoods lack trick-or-treaters so Halloween candy is just an excuse to indulge.

This change is not just because the kids have grown up. As I said at the top, holidays were always celebrated with food. Thanksgiving is a holiday centered around food. My mother’s family would make pasties alongside the traditional turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes. Her family made bread stuffing. I learned to make cornbread and sausage stuffing. Eventually my family Thanksgiving traditions incorporated bits and pieces from everywhere I had lived. The one day in 2020, it all stopped. The giant plates of food that would need to be packaged as leftovers, the hours spent bending over the stove, weren’t important anymore. My mom was gone. The food wasn’t as important anymore. Thanksgiving became a simple day. No longer is it an attempt to keep everything from the past together but it became a day to be present. It is a day to celebrate the now with the people right next to me.

Christmas. Germany knows how to do Christmas. But, that’s just my opinion. I spent many years recapturing the joys of Christmas in Germany. Even going so far as making my own lebkuchen.

Christmas continues to change. We have everything we need. We put up a tree and lights for joy in the darkest parts of the year. Where it used to be about shopping and toys, Christmas cards and lists, travel and family visits, it’s now about the longer season before the holiday. It’s about the buildup, the carols, the decorating, and sometimes the baking. We don’t have a fancy meal, we often eat breakfast for dinner. It used to be about food, family and handing down traditions to the next generation. Christmas always manages to take care of itself once we stop trying too hard to make it perfect. My favorite Christmas movie: