My mom is an AMAZING cook! As mentioned when I first started this blog, my inspiration for capturing the events of daily life began with my first taste of home ownership, when I discovered that there were so many of my mom's recipes that I was unable to recreate. Speaking with my sister and brother, we all came up with some recipes of our mom's that we wanted to actually get out of her head and onto paper so we can keep them going in our family long after we're all no longer here. That might sound like a morbid thought, but as you grow up, life really changes your perspective. You realize that you really won't live forever and your time on earth is never long enough.
The world has already changed so much in my 27 years... our parents lived in a much simpler time... yet still, so did we. I was raised in the days of going outside to play. Our curfew was when the street lights came on. We watched Saturday morning cartoons. We had sleepovers where we played dress-up, dolls, tea parties, and we actually all piled under blankets in the living room floor. We recorded our favorite shows on VHS and watched them on our VCR. We waited all day long with our tape in the tapedeck of our massive boombox or stereo system for our favorite song to come on so we could make mixed tapes. We did chores for which we got some minimal amount of allowance, yet we thought we were rich! We participated in lots of outdoor activities and had family gatherings regularly (outside of just the holidays), including family reunions and annual family vacations! We sat down around the table for family dinner every night. We wrote notes in class and doodled on our notebooks. We had whatever kind of bookbag we wanted and wore to school whatever crazy outfit we could pull together 10 seconds before we ran out the door to catch the bus. We were dropped off at the skating rink, the bowling alley, and the mall for hours with friends until our parents came back to get us. We had bonfires that the whole neighborhood would attend. We had different "secret" crushes every week. We talked on our home phone to our friends on 3-way and it was the coolest thing ever! We went to summer camp, PARD baseball games and high school football games. We looked forward to the "9 o'clock props" every night on Q93! "The 9 o'clock props is on, tell me where you callin' from!" (Ya'll know ya'll sang it every time)
Since then, technology and the internet have taken over our world in a major way. Electronic gadgets and video games have taken the place of physical activity and exercise. Online communication has taken the place of interpersonnel communication. Everyone is virtually "connected" nonstop. People are busier than ever and one of the most difficult tasks is trying to spend quality time with one another. While I do often enjoy the modern conveniences of this technology-crazed world, I also miss the much simpler and quieter time where we could have dinner without someone's cell phone going off, movie time without someone text messaging, etc. and we actually knew how to communicate and spend time with each other.
For me, it's always a welcomed break from an often crazy and stressful day when something jolts a memory from my childhood. One of my best and most frequent memories that old friends tend to recall, much like my siblings and I, is my mom's great cooking. If you've ever been to our house growing up, you were always welcomed with a freshly cooked delicious dinner and enouraged to "eat up!" My mom rarely let you escape without eating something and she'd often send you home with leftovers! :) I know for sure that we never realized back then just how lucky we were while growing up in my home, but now I can't reminisce without thoughts of how blessed we were (and are) at the forefront of my mind.
This past Christmas, I struggled as always on what to get for the members of my family--the older we grow, the harder it gets. We're always racking our brains for what we could possibly want or need, coming up with very little and realizing ever moreso the real meaning of the season is not about material gifts. That being said, I came up with the perfect plan. The cost was minimal, but the impact was HUGE. And this year's gift will be cherished forever...
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Here's a pic of mom and dad when they opened the book. :) Jory & Scott are lucky I didn't catch their reactions on camera!
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