A Double Batch

New Year's Day is here! Time for our family's annual meal of sauerkraut and sausage rolls, a tradition that was passed on to me from my inlaws who have both been gone for a few years.

Now I am not a recipe collector or one who often works from them, and honestly I've memorized how to make this dish. Even so, it seemed imperative to search out the old recipe card written in my mother-in-law's hand those many years ago. And when I found it... EUREKA! Rich feelings of warmth and love swept over me.

So this has made me think about the imprint we leave behind. Handwritten thank you notes for thoughtful little gifts or deeds. Letters of affirmation to our husbands or grown children. Recordings of songs sung with grandkids. 

Recipes written down for daughters-in-law who think they don't need them.

I am so thankful for the mother God gave my husband. She taught me about acceptance, about laughing at oneself, about finding joy in the everyday. She taught me a few things in the kitchen, too. And so today, in the spirit of her generosity and the memory of the many bountiful meals she prepared for our family over the years, my meagerly sensibilities were overruled and I was inspired to, in her words, "make a double batch."

Happy New Year, Bea!