Holiday Traditions Continue for Our Wild and Crazy Clan

Our crazy family reunion

By Susan Montgomery Photos by Todd Montgomery

Most families have holiday traditions they carry on through the years. Our recent Thanksgiving reunion was no exception. After reunions over the last decade or so in Nashville, Memphis, Indianapolis, Connecticut, and South Carolina, this year we all gathered in Southern California where my husband and I live.

Our four children and their spouses and four grandchildren (ranging in age from 4 years old to 22) arrived mostly via plane. It was wonderful they all made the efort to go “over the rivers and through the woods” to their far-flung grandparents’ home. As family tradition dictates, we savored chili the night before Thanksgiving. Since our family’s taste buds range from “love that spice” to “keep it mild,” we had two pots with diferent levels of spiciness simmering on the stove. We all recall the year that one son made a chili so spicy that it was almost inedible. This year everyone was happy with the chili. (My secret tip for chili: Use both hamburger and Italian sausage.)

Thanksgiving morning revived more traditions. We had our usual mildly contentious discussion about what we would watch on TV after the Macy’s

Thanksgiving Day Parade. Would we watch football (the boys’ choice) or the National Dog Show (the girls’ choice)? Even though we have lots of boys in the family, the girls always win this argument. This year I ofered a prize for the person who chose the winning dog out of the finalists. Our 16-year-old grandson won with his choice of Claire the Scottish Deerhound. (Later I discovered that he had cleverly checked online about who the winner was three hours earlier in New York, but I still gave him the prize for ingenuity.)

While watching the dog show and while our grill master son, David, got our freshly brined turkey from Trader Joes’ on the Weber, we sipped Bloody Marys and snacked on a plethora of appetizers. We always have deviled eggs (a specialty of our son, Tripp), and one year we even had a deviled egg contest. This year, in addition to a tempting charcuterie platter, we brought back fond memories by serving our grandchildren’s great grandmothers’ favorite and very easy appetizers. (I bet most of our readers here recall these simple, delicious appetizers too.)

My mother used to always make ham roll-ups, which I whipped together early Thanksgiving morning.

Ham Roll-ups

Ingredients

Softened cream cheese Thinly sliced deli ham Dill pickle spears

Directions

Spread cream cheese on a slice of deli ham. Place a pickle at one end of the slice and roll it up into a loglike shape. Then slice the log into roll-ups that are about ½ inch thick. Place on a platter and chill for about an hour. These treats are always a hit.

Photos, from top: Son, David, slices the crispy, delicious turkey; Sue's sometimes spicy chili

Shrimp Cocktail Sauce Spread

Ingredients

A block of cream cheese A can of tiny shrimp, well drained A bottle of cocktail sauce

Directions

Unwrap the block of cream cheese and place on a platter. Dump the shrimp and cocktail sauce over the cream cheese. Serve with crackers. This couldn’t be easier and the kids devoured it.

Not to be outdone by my wonderful mother and mother-in-law, I have created my own holiday memory recipe. This is an always-requested favorite for every holiday meal — my delectable Spinach Soufe. (Even kids who don’t like vegetables like this dish.)

Susan’s Famous Spinach Souffle

Ingredients to serve about 8

About 16-20 ounces of chopped, frozen spinach 2 large cartons of small curd cottage cheese 8 ounces of cubed cheddar cheese ½ stick of butter, cut in small cubes 3 eggs, stirred together 2 tablespoons of flour

Directions

Drain spinach very well in a colander the night before making this dish. Squeeze water out in the morning. Mix all ingredients together very well. If you want a greener dish, you can add more spinach. Smooth mixture in a buttered 9 X 11-inch casserole dish. Bake for about an hour at 350 degrees or until it pufs up and starts to brown. This dish can be prepared a day ahead and then baked the day it is being served. Or it can be baked and frozen for a week or so and then thawed and warmed up the day it is being served. (This is what I did so I didn’t need to prepare it on Thanksgiving Day and it turned out perfectly.)

I actually made about seven side dishes ahead and froze them so I didn’t have to spend all of Thanksgiving Day cooking. Most sides freeze just fine, although anything with eggs should be baked before freezing.

And so another Thanksgiving has now created wonderful memories of enticing smells and tastes, peppered with lots of laughter. I wonder where we will be next year, but, wherever we are, I’m sure our traditions will continue — and perhaps we’ll create some new ones.