Summary: Growing up my Mom was Queen of Tradition in the McGrail household. There were specific protocols for each major holiday and heaven help you if you tried to suggest anything that didn’t go along with the protocol. One of the ones that I remember very well was the annual spiced apples that were made every year at our Christmas Dinner—always served on Christmas Eve after the perfectly timed Moravian Lovefeast that could be at 3:30 but never later than 4:30 because that was throwing off the rest of the day’s schedule. Anyway, the apples…they were peeled, cored and served whole with a very delicious sauce in my great grandmother’s crystal dishes. They were quite yummy for sure. The other tradition was the annual cursing fest that was the putting on lights of our Christmas tree. My dad would find new and creative ways to get frustrated and there was always a plethora of new vocabulary words that I was not to share outside of the home.Read More...
