Traditions

Traditions

No this is not a Fiddler on the Roof song.. o.k. it is the name of a song but I am not going to sing but I am going to wax about changing traditions and grieve a little about the loss.

The Jewish holidays are full of so many wonderful traditions and yes as the joke goes they pretty much all center around food. Growing up I remember getting to help my Bubbie (Bubbies mom) cook for the holiday as I was telling my mom the other day one of my fondest Passover memories was when I was 8 years old ( you had to be 8 to use knives) getting to make Chroset all by myself (o.k. there was supervision but I did all the work) in her big wooden bowl with the crack and her chopper. Now for me this was a strong memory because I can close my eyes and see it as if it was yesterday. As time when on the holidays moved from my Bubbies house to my momÂ’s house and about 12 years ago they moved to mine and so did the traditions and the memories.

I realize that for families to stay together there have to me more than rules and rituals that hold them together there have to be emotional ties. Memories of times in the past that were so good that you want to pass them on to your children and grandchildren and so on and so on. I also realize that when a kid grows up and moves away to start their own life that they will take some of the traditions and keep them intact but others will be adapted to blend with the newenvironmentt that they are now in. Which brings me to where I am today.

As I am still cleaning up from last nights dinner (yes I miss my dishwashers and dryers) I realized how lonely (or ronrey to quote Ash) a kitchen can be when you are cooking alone. It is amazing how many wonderful memories are made not at the event but preparing for it.

Celia has been my Su Chef and always there to help and in doing so learning how to do it herself (I hope the Portland brisket came out well). And Sam I am out of chicken soup and the thought of making more with out you first dancing with the chickens is very sad, so I think I will be using cans for a while. Which leaves just Ash and Me and Bubbie (her job is chopped liver and I still need to learn how to make that one) and since Ash was in school yesterday she was not able to keep me company so her job was just to be the Official Taste Tester to make sure that there is no e-coli in the carrots, (don't worry it is a joke that will only be understood this year in California). And she did a pretty good job if you ask me, I don’t think there was a single carrot left to make anyone else worry.

Sometime I worry about what traditions the next generations will cherish will my daughters carry on family traditions and have everyone over for certainan dinners or will distance keep them from each other. And then there is always the dilemmama that my mother did not have to deal with..Divvyingng up the family heirlooms. How can I pass on all the traditions to all of my children and grandchildren (eventually). I also worry about my nieces how can traditionsns be passed down to them when they only visit the event and do not actually experienc what goes into getting there. With the thought of my daughters all growing up and the possabilitiy of not having their families local, I worry that my nieceses will not carry on the traditions because they only now how to come to my house and they will not be able do it them selves since they have never learned and do not know the why or how of many of the traditions that they enjoy.

I have rambled to long.....