Occasions Folder

Yesterday I decided to make a "guide to occasions" folder, make it look nice, unique, & fill with everything I need/use/do for occassions through out the year. Things like christmas cake recipe, how to cook a turkey with variations of times depending on weight, christmas dinner shopping lise etc for christmas, a section for cards, something similar to this, but for through out the year.

SO far I have the outside of the folder almost done, lol. & a few ideas for inside buzzing around my head. I want it to be done to last my lifetime, something I can keep adding to, then hopefully my children will continue it & their children, & their children etc.

Collecting ideas of it in my head has made me think of my Nan, she was an amazing cook. I always looked forward to going round for a meal, it was always either something from the chippy (we didnt have ANY kind of takeaway very often) or a buffet style FEAST. First the 3 leaf table was filled with savory food, I couldnt tell you what half of it was, high class scrummyness all made from hand.
Then when we'd done with that it would be filled again with deserts, belgian biscuit cake, trifles (yes, plural!), truffles, jelly, icecream...I could go on & on.
Happy Memories, of picking what I wanted, multiple puddings, feeling stuffed to the top, the warmth from the electric fire, the slightly musty smell of a room barely used, family all round.

My nan was from a "well-to-do" family, in an era where things had to be just so. Where all little girls were taught to sew, knit, crochet, cook, clean. When she was in her 80's she'd still get on her hands & knees to polish her varnished staircase, clean the house from top to bottom without any help, & do all the other chores she always had done.

The sad thing is those days are over, & there is no way it can be recreated. Its not just because my grandparents are now gone, its also unlikely the pages of her recipe book that she kept all her amazing recipes in will see the light of day for another 30+ years. One day my younger brother will inherit it, but until then it will sit on a shelf in a womans home who will not use it, or let anyone else touch. It sits there like a trophy, a prize of power, not a treasured item of memories.

I have a few recipes from it, ones my mom copied out before she left home into her own collection of recipes. These will be included in my folder, along with some of my moms, a piece of the past to pass on to the future, a way to keep my memories, those special feelings alive, and to allow another generation to have their own special memories.