It was our daughter Judy's well-planned idea to present her sons Nathan and Lars, with their spouses Kara and Katie, a post-Christmas surprise. And what was that? A day in our home teaching her children how to bake Alyce's famous rye bread, not to mention spend some quality time with their grandparents.The bread, a family tradition going back to Alyce's folks and who knows how much further, is to die for--that good! One more family tie that binds not only our children but their spouses and children as well. It's part of home for all of us, feeling and being at home wherever one is. And New Year's Eve seemed the right time to pass on one of our family's treasured traditions to a new generation and all those coming after.
More was involved, of course, than the mixing, kneading, and baking of the bread--entering into and learning the process, hands on. Kara, Katie, Nathan, Alyce, and Lars were also deepening the bonds between them, one could say breaking bread together with us as well as baking it.
Judy and Bob Stromberg, grandparents to their kids, were dutiful baby-sitters at their home all through the morning, but by noon they joined us, six more, for a bowl or two of Oma's chili, one more bearer of family tradition over the years. I say one or two bowls, but it must in some cases have been more brecause that receipe had been tripled in preparing for lunch, and there wasn't much left.
Note the aprons, too--no less a tradition in Oma's kitchen. She never cooks without an apron, a memory she has carried over from her mother and mine, now being passed on whenever children or grandchildren come to share with her in kitchen preparations.
Hmmmm!! The bread was, as usual, delicious, even if somewhat heavier for too many hands in the kneading process. No matter. The fellowship and bonding, and passing of memory from generation to generation was what really mattered. Bread is for life, and throughout that day the living between us was all the richer for all we were doing together.
.JPG)