When my mind wanders back to the holiday foods of my childhood it conjures up delicious memories. Christmas dinner was always served at our home and the grandparents were our guests for the day.
One year....in the early to mid 1950's....I remember a particular mincemeat pie. My paternal grandmother (Grams) was quite a baker. In fact, she was a fantastic cook. Nothing gourmet....just great, plain home cook'n.
Her mincemeat did have a little kick to it. Since I was a kid, I don't know just brand was added to the mincemeat; however, it was from a bottle...wink wink!
Another Growing Up Hughes story.....Grams, who was pretty much a tea-totaler, put a little splash of the liquor into her mincemeat. Later, Pop Pop came by the mincemeat mixture, tasted it and decided it needed a few more spirits. Just before the already twice spiked mincemeat went into the pie....Great Grandma Hughes wandered by, gave it a good taste and decided it needed some additional punch.
None, knew the other had added additional ingredients to the mincemeat until the pie was cut and served following the Christmas dinner. They all got an additional holiday gift that year....the best mincemeat pie ever!
Christmas 1953 Photograph
Left to right around the table:
Martha Jean Stark Hughes (My Mom)
Martha Marie Frederick Stark (My maternal Grandmother)
Faith Carol Hughes (My paternal Aunt)
George Henry Hughes (My paternal Grandfather)
Linda Lee Hughes (Me)
Kenneth George Hughes (My brother)
Sarah Margaret VanGilder Hughes (My paternal Grandmother)
John Aiden Hughes (My paternal Uncle)
Elizabeth Ferdinande Olesen Hughes (My paternal Great Grandmother)
Photographer: George VanGilder Hughes (my Dad)
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© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser
How nice to get all those generations in one photo. i don't know if my mother added any spirits to our mincemeat pie. i may give that a try this year!
ReplyDeleteYes, but the question is, does anybody remember anything after eating that pie ;-) How did they every figure out what each of them had done?!?
ReplyDeleteI so giggled. My post was about Rum Balls and Texasblu sneaking some. I love the story and the picture. Great to have a generational picture.
ReplyDeleteThat's an amazing-looking pie - beautiful crust. I had forgotten, but at least when I was little, my mother used to make mincemeat pie every Christmas, as well as pecan pie.
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