Sometimes tradition is very important in people's lives. It keeps the ancestry alive. Doing this gives us a sense of belonging, making sure we don't forget.
When I was younger and we lived in Montana, my parents and all of my siblings (3 brothers, 2 sisters) would go to my Grandparents house after church to have brunch. The brunch consisted of homemade biscuits and sausage gravy, milk, orange juice and chocolate pudding. We all called it chocolate gravy. Grandma would always make us eat at least one biscuit and sausage gravy before we could have any of the chocolate gravy on a biscuit. All of us kids, which also included my cousins, were all excited about getting this treat. We ate everything that was on our plate, even if we did not like it. We all wanted this goodie. I have only kept this tradition in my heart, because my husband does not like gravy or chocolate at all. My children are all grown up and sometimes they will tell me they tried the biscuits and gravy but did not really care for it.
When we moved to Washington, we were not able to go to my Grandmothers house anymore except during the Summer once in awhile. She past away in June of 1972, so I like to keep this part of her in my heart. She always smelled like a bakery.
When we were going to Grandma's house, we all thought that she lived up on a really big mountain. After several years of being away fro there, coming back to her house when my Uncle died and leaving the house empty, it was only a small hill going up to a dead-end on the road.
the tradition of going to my Grandma's house was broken when we moved away. We started our own tradition for the holidays, we all sat around waiting for the feast to begin. We had turkey, mash potatoes, gravy, cranberries, they had to be jelled because my dad did not like the whole berries and then there were the sweet potatoes, however, they were the ones in the can because that is what my mom liked. We all grew up and ent our own ways to start our own traditions.
I took on Easter dinner as my tradition all the food was gathered, turkey, ham, colored eggs, deviled eggs, (for after the big Easter egg hunt by all of the children), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, both jelled and whole, green salad, vegetables, and rolls. This all came to an end when my children grew up and no one else took on the tradition.
