Holiday Spirit Blogfest Recipe and True Story

Hello everyone.
It's time for Romantic Friday Writers Holiday Blogfest. We are to write a story either true or fictional and share a recipe. My recipe has a story, so I am combining the two. To read other stories go here.

Before I start however, I want to give my condolences to all those affected by the school shooting in Connecticut. I will say that this really was hard for me. I didn't know anyone there, but when I learned the news I had just dropped off my 5 year old grandson at school. I started to cry. There truly are no words to express what any of us must feel about this event.

As writers we spend time inventing a villain to mess with our hero. Many use real people in history and others are inspired by fictional works and what other writers have created. I combine the process. But in real life we shake our heads and wonder how anyone can do such terrible things. I haven't watched the news on this, so I don't know what any of the reports are saying, but from my chair I must say I believe there is real evil in the world that influences the weak minded.

Now dry your eyes as I am doing and read my little story.

When I was a child my mother feed the family on my father's side. They came with no gift and no help, but you would never know that my mother held any resentment. She was too busy being a good mom and cooking all day in the kitchen. This began at 4 a.m. on Thanksgiving day and she repeated the exact same meal at Christmas. I loved this day. I was the cranberry chef.  My mother would set up the grinder on a low table since I was very young and leave me to do the work. I loved it. This entailed grinding two freshly washed bags of cranberries along with three apples and three oranges into a huge bowl. To that I added two cups of sugar,  probably a couple tablespoons of cinnamon and stirred. Once all the ingredients were assembled my mother covered the bowl and put it in the refrigerator.

While we ate my mother told the cranberry story. Her parents lived on the family farm in Minnesota where she was raised. Minnesota wasn't in the Great Dust Bowl, its too far north. However, most of the relatives lived in the city and were struggling. Every weekend they came to the farm to eat including on Thanksgiving. One Thanksgiving my grandmother discovered that she didn't have enough cranberries to make the traditional cranberry sauce so she invented the recipe above. Everyone loved it. I have seen this recipe in magazines and cookbooks, but in our family it was my grandmothers creation.

Recipe:
1 or 2 bags of fresh cranberries
2 or 3 apples
2 or 3 oranges peeled.
Wash all, cut apples and oranges in quarters, no need to peel the apples, grind into a bowl and add 1 to 2 cups of sugar or more depending on your sugar preference and add 1 or more tablespoons of cinnamon.

My husband and children don't like this recipe so I have never made it for them. This saddens me since the story and recipe will die with me. Life goes on. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Nancy