Demeter has written in the margins of her old cookbooks around certain festive recipes that our family returns to year after year.  My sister and I adore reading over who was working where, who was visiting, who the cake was made for, who might not be with us at the table for the first time that year.  It is a bittersweet reminder of times gone by and the food we served to loved ones.  I can’t remember what Thanksgiving was like in 1999, but when my mom reads to me that little three sentence snippet, it all floods back.  An auditory Madeline.

I do this in my books now, in the hopes that it will keep a record of little moments that we might otherwise forget.  Today, while on the phone with Demeter, I jotted down her old Betty Crocker pecan pie recipe from 1969.  Cherub wormed her way into my lap, eager to be included.  I handed her the pencil and she wrote her name and drew a happy face on the page facing the recipe.  No doubt this will be something that we keep forever.  Three generations of girls, sharing recipes and writing in the margins.

Happy Thanksgiving, kids.  Sending you all lots of love from Persephone’s Kitchen.