Last year if you remember from my blog, we celebrated my family's Thanksgiving celebration in our garage. This year on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, we celebrated in my brother's barn. It was the perfect place to celebrate our time together.

Our meals do not include traditional foods year after year. Since we celebrate after the Thanksgiving holiday and since my husband and I are the ones that host it, we go for taste and simplicity. What will best feed 35-40 people quickly, simply, and inexpensively. This year it was three big spaghetti pies, a big, fresh garden salad, a bowl of cole slaw, and warm from the oven cheese rolls. But, the one tradition that has carried on from year to year, is the vanilla pudding dessert from our mother's kitchen. It takes the form of either vanilla pudding pies or as in this year, a big, delicious bowl of vanilla pudding. It is a painstaking, time consuming dessert since it is always made her way, with the Cook & Serve Jello pudding and not the Instant pudding. You can imagine how long it must take her to cook and stir all of the milk (one gallon of milk) and six large boxes of pudding. This made two bowls of pudding and one small pie. She has stressed to me the importance of using a non stick pan for this procedure. She adds the graham cracker crumbs, the sugar, and the butter mixture as a crust in layers throughout the pudding. She tops this delicious pudding with real whipping cream that she whips with her hand mixer. Then with one of her decorating tips she makes the dollops on top of the pudding. Just in case you are interested, she also stresses making this dessert at least a day on ahead of when you serve it. She says, " that this step is crucial, because it tastes so much better.":)


One very special lady, my mother and her own unique, vanilla pudding creation. Eagerly we look forward to this delicious Thanksgiving tradition.
It is Monday morning and a new and busy week awaits us.
Wishing you some moments of joy as you face this new week.