Today it rained...not just a drizzle...but a down pour. This did not work into our plans well. Today we had places to go and important people to see and making Chili at 9 am was NOT in my plans. But you see I was raised by a TRADITION LOVIN' Mama! Our mother had traditions for everything, special plate, Special colored ribbons and brown paper packages at Christmas, special treats...German Chocolate Cake was mine, Frozen Pineapples for one sister, another sister loved when mom would pop some popcorn in the skillet with Butter (yea, back before people freaked out about butter) on the stove in a cast iron skillet...2 Christmas Trees, Decorations for Holidays (Valentine's Day, Easter, St. Patricks, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...and others if she thought of them!)...and then there was RAINY DAY CHILI. Rainy Day Chili was a kind of CONSTANT in our life. It was something we could count on. It was like the North Star that would lead Mariners on the ocean...Chili brought us home, around the table. The tradition went as follows: On the first truly rainy school day after school started in September WE COULD COUNT ON mom making a huge pot of Chili. I really don't ever remember her NOT doing this...it was a tradition. And my mother LOVED tradition. One of her favorite movies was Fiddler on the Roof and one of her favorite songs in that movie??? You guessed it Tradition...TRADITION!!!
The forecast said that it would rain on Thursday this week. That worked out nicely for me. I planned for Thursday, and planned around Thursday, but then this morning I awoke to rain. We had places to go and I did the unthinkable, I cooked the meat and threw everything in the Crockpot...stirred three times and pressed 8 hours. Off we went. We had a fabulous day with loved ones. We came home to warm Chili and actually to my surprise my daughter said it is the best I have ever made. NOW...I have mixed emotions about that. Is she saying that my throw in the Crockpot Chili can even hold a candle to my sweat over the hot stove all day, stir and stir and add all the mommy love in the world CHILI??? Hmmm....if that is the case, I may be getting that Crockpot down again soon! Regardless, we followed TRADITION and it felt good. I know that mom and dad are smiling today. Yesterday another family member had written, they had their Rainy Day Chili last night, because they got their first rain yesterday. Mom and Dad might be gone physically from us for now...but the traditions keep them very close.
Life is precious and short! Make it a great day! Only YOU can!
2 comments:
Love this! Glad you guys had a wonderful first chili dinner of the season!
I LOVE your chili tradition and I totally stole it, crockpot and all. But changed it to be the first snowy day instead of the first rainy day. And boy was it warming and yu-u-my. Can you believe it's snowing in October, sigh!
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