Let's Talk About Deviled Eggs

As I am getting older, the holidays are beginning to change. My great grandparents have passed away, and some of my grandparents are aren't able to come to my house to celebrate anymore. My aunt just had a baby, and has her own family to celebrate with in El Paso. I guess this happens as you grow up. The family dynamic changes and the people you are with will vary. However, I did not really expect to feel so bitter and sad about it.

I've been remembering some old family traditions. They usually revolve around food, but not always. Every Christmas Eve night was dedicated to my mom's side of the family. Granny, Marty, Auntie, and Erin would come to our place. We would have appetizers like shrimp, and then eat steak, green beans, and mashed potatoes. Every year we would argue whether or not the stockings should be opened first, or the presents. Auntie and I were on the stockings first side, with everyone else wanting to open presents. (Is it really any debate though? Stockings are like a warm-up to the big stuff! It has to come first!) My sister and I would pass out everyone's presents, and we would watch each other open one at a time. After it was all said and done, we would haul our loot to our rooms, and go to bed eager to see what Santa would have in store for us the next morning!

Christmas morning was just the four of us- Mom, Dad, Katie, and I. Katie and I were so excited that we wouldn't even eat breakfast. We just woke up Mom and Dad to open! Although this aspect of Christmas hasn't changed yet, I know it will when I move out one day. I also wonder if the magic of Christmas you feel as a kid dies away with every year you mature. I hope not.

Christmas Afternoon, some of my Dad's side of the family celebrate with us. Grandma Sallie, Granddaddy David, Uncle Dan, and my great grandparents, Grandpa and Grandma Billie, would come over to our house (or sometimes we would go to theirs). Katie and I would show off what Santa had brought us and we would bring down every present we had opened. At lunch, Grandma Sallie would (and sometimes still does) make the best broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole. She also made that pink and green fruit marshmallow fluff, that is dessert disguised as fruit salad. That stuff is the best. Grandpa always made his homemade eggnog after lunch. It had just enough Jack Daniels whiskey in it "to cook the egg". There was never enough whiskey in it for mom, but we had to have the "kid safe" version! One of the things I'll miss the most is Grandma Billie's Deviled Eggs. They were great. She had a special plate that had 12 little curves and dips in it to hold the eggs. I was cautious and wary as a young child; those red eggs were suspicious! But now it's something I miss the most about her. Grandma Sallie tried to make them again the next year after she died but I didn't partake in it. I actually haven't had a deviled egg since she died, until recently, and I wanted to go home and cry after I ate it.

Deviled Eggs are not my favorite food. It's not something that I want to eat all the time. However, they give me a good memory of my Grandma Billie and Grandpa when one of the only other memories I have is them living out the rest of their lives withering away in a nursing home.

I don't think I'll eat another deviled egg anytime soon, because none of them will ever taste as good as my Grandma Billie used to make.

These different foods remind me of some great Christmases during my childhood, and the fact that I haven't eaten some of them any and won't eat some of them for awhile makes me realize that this chapter of my life is coming to a close. Soon enough I'll have my own family to celebrate the holidays with. I guess this is a part of life, but I do feel sad that some of these traditions must come to a close. I wish they didn't have to.