Traditions and Memories

Last night I saw a perfect opportunity to make a sweet memory with my TOO quickly growing daughter.  Yesterday was her last day of school before break and she has been begging me to stay up late just to see how it feels... So after the boys were tucked into bed, I snuck into her room and ushered her to the kitchen.  Every year for the past three years, Maddy and I have made the pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving.  It's a sweet tradition that I hope my daughter will always want to keep. 

This year, we decided to make little mini pies using the mini muffin pan as well as the regular muffin pans.  Maddy was super excited about even the smallest process going into the baking project.  Spreading the flour on the countertop, cutting small disks of pie dough, and shaking the evaporated milk for the pie mixture all took on a fantastic glow for my sweet girl. 

It brought back so many memories from growing up.  My momma always made sure we were in the kitchen if we wanted to be there.  She took on the extra time and work to make sure we were involved in the process.  I can remember the warm feeling of pride as I surveyed a batch of cookies or a cooling cake.  Those feelings are exactly what I hope Maddy will remember one day. 


Maddy got to relive some of my greatest baking disappointments.  She tasted both the flour and pumpkin mixture eagerly as she was curious about the taste of what looked like very yummy things.  Her face wrinkled quickly as she realized that flour is NOTHING like sugar.. and even though pumpkin might smell good, it definitely needs some sugar before tasting...**

After the pies were in the oven we filled the time by reading some of her favorite books, The time sped by so quickly and it was soon time to pull out her little masterpieces.  She of course had to test taste them to make sure they were tasty enough for everyone else to enjoy on Thursday.  She had to try two different pies to get a thorough opinion on the matter.  She decided that the pies from the mini muffin pans were better due to the pie to pie filling ratio achieved.... her exact words were something like, "the bigger ones have too much pumpkin mommy... I like the teeny ones"   What a sweet moment to savor.  Long after the pies are gone, the memories will remain.  God willing, I have many more years of pumpkin pies and sweet Maddy time..