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Lemon Pie for Christmas

My mother--using my paternal grandmother's recipe, I must note-- made a killer lemon pie.   I do not consider lemon pie a traditional Christmas dessert.  We always had an English Christmas pudding--made with suet and raisins and a fair amount of whiskey in the sauce--also courtesy of my paternal grandmother--as a Christmas Day dessert served late in the evening.  However, the family lemon pie making seems to have fallen in my lap and last Christmas a nephew was visibly crushed when I failed to serve a lemon pie at the family Christmas gathering.  Needless to say, I will be getting up with the sun (which lets me sleep quite late this time of year) to make a lemon pie for the dinner tomorrow.  We don't get together the way we did when my parents were still alive.
I'm hoping the family will also appreciate my effort to make the pierogis this year.  I am not making my mother's kolache or the nut bread, though.  It's funny how holiday dinners did not vary when I was growing up.  We always had traditional Ukrainian foods for Christmas Eve and a traditional English Christmas Day and my mother cooked and baked for weeks.  And, really, Christmas, with all that,  did not come close to the pile of traditional foods that went with Easter. 
Now Mike and I have seafood for Christmas Eve in the (sort of) Italian tradition.  I make a Christmas brunch and then we usually have leftovers for supper.  However, I think that I feel myself pulled by the old ways lately--how else to explain the pierogis?
I never thought I was very much of a traditionalist.  I kind of pooh-poohed that for years and years.  Now I find myself being nostalgic.  At the same time, I am appreciating new traditions--like lemon pie at Christmas time.

Comments

  1. Love how many different cultures are present in your Christmas.
    Your lemon pie is now third generation so that makes it traditional. That is my very favorite and deserves permanence.

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  2. I have become much more nostalgic now that I'm older. I guess I have more to be nostalgic about. I love that you are making the lemon pie because you know your nephew likes it.

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  3. I learned all about pie when I came to Canada in the '50's. I especially like the lemon because I'm very fond of lemons.Our baking is more Ausrian when it comes to old tradtions.

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