Favorite Family Tradition

Tuesday, February 19, 2008, by Leigh Anne

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This last week my 18 year old daughter was being spotlighted at church and she was given a short survey to fill out that asked her questions such as - “If you could be the 8th dwarf what would your name be?” She chose Spunky which fits her so perfectly. “What is a new skill you’d like to learn?” - my spunky girl wants to learn to bellydance!

Another question was “What is one of your favorite family traditions?” Being a family of “strong tradition” there were dozens of things she could have chosen. Anything from Santa’s elves dropping off new pajamas every Christmas Eve to the maze of string the Easter Bunny leaves each Easter morning for them to follow to find their Easter goodies - but no - her answer was JELLO!

You may wonder how Jello can be a family tradition but actually, in our family, it is. Having grown up as a child of the sixties and seventies there was a lot of Jello consumption in my home.

About twice a year my “Grandma Canada” would come for a visit. Each time she came she was amazed by the amount of Jello our family consumed. In fact she often said -”Your family must keep Jello in business!” I am not sure how often my mother really did serve jello but I remember it as being pretty much a staple of every Sunday dinner.

The Jello was usually served in individual little servings, having been molded in those little, metal jello molds - remember those? In fact, I still have a box full of my mother’s old jello molds in my kitchen cupboard.

My favorite Jello though was the 1-2-3 Jello.

It was amazing. I would get to help mix it up and after you poured it into the individual glasses (on Sundays we used my mom’s good crystal goblets to serve it in) my siblings and I would watch anxiously as the Jello magically divided into 3 different layers -AMAZING!

If you are interested there is actually a movement going to bring back 1-2-3 Jello - you can sign the petition too if you want!

When we were sick my mom would mix us up a mug of warm Jello - yes, we would drink it! O.K. so nutrition wasn’t big in the sixties and seventies in Wisconsin!

Well, we no longer eat Jello (or drink it) on a weekly or daily basis at our house, instead it is usually about twice a year - Christmas Eve and Easter. And let me tell you - it would not be an official Christmas Eve or Easter without my children’s favorite Jello dish. We affectionately refer to it as “Grandma’s favorite Jello” even though my “Grandma California” who loved her Jello too has been gone for many years.

Each year when Christmas and Easter roll around and we are discussing holiday menus one of the children will always ask “Are we having Jello?”

Food is an important part of family traditions, a link that ties the generations together, even if it is something as simple as Jello! Do you have a favorite family food tradition? A favorite family recipe that reminds you of a special family member? I’d love to hear - please leave a comment below and share!

See the next post for our families favorite Jello recipe and my sweet daughter’s favorite family tradition!

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9 Responses to “Favorite Family Tradition”

Oh the days of JELLO. I could slurp it all day too. Although, I do know that it is outlawed in Switzerland. (No nutritional value) My husband being Swiss is always taking the contraband to his cousins when we go and visit.

How funny is that?

Ahhh, the comforts of Jello Except I’m kind of queasy thinking you would drink it warm when you were sick??!! But then again, if I shared my mom’s Pacific Lime Mold recipe you’d probably get queasy because it has cottage cheese in it. LOL

But I love a good jello recipe so thanks!

Yikes - cottage cheese. It would definitely make me queasy - as you know I have “texture issues.”
No lumpy food for me!!

I miss Jello 1-2-3! My husband laughs at me because I have 1 lonely box stored in a plastic bag in my pantry - just to prove the product did exist.

I’ve never had 1-2-3 Jello…but wanted to say…We also drank warm jello when we were ill. My mom would give it to us so at least we’d have something in our stomachs in case we continued to get sick. I used to really like it! Maybe I should go make some now…..

Our family’s favorite food tradition is our birthday meals. Each person (no matter what their age) picks their birthday meal. We’ve had everything from steak, spaghetti, tacos, hot dogs, McDonalds, and Outback chosen lately - we have seven children - so lots of birthdays.

Sometimes the foods don’t go together. Right now the twins (5) are planning their sixth birthday meal and they are wanting - ribs on the grill, cake, steak on the grill, pickles, Cheese Puffs, and Doritos. Guess since there are two boys, we will probably give in and do both meats - but usually the birthday person does only get one main pick.

Sometimes hubby and I will have a nice quiet dinner alone for our birthdays, but will still seem to gravitate back to a family meal all together.

I hope this tradition continues as our children grow up and move out. Our oldest wasn’t home last year for his birthday and we really missed him.

You know you can make the same thing as Jello 123 with regular jello. Instead of mixing it with cold water put in the same amount of ice cubes. Then put it into the food processor and blend. It will be very frothy. Pour into you glass and it will start to separate!

I used to eat Jello 1,2,3 all the time as a child. Wish I could still find it now. So I could share it with my children.

I NEED 123 JELOO IN MY LIFE AGAIN>>>I MISS IT, HOW COME WHEN YOU LOVE SOMETHING SO MUCH IT ALWAYS GETS TAKEN FROM YOU???I WISH THEY WOULD PUT IT OUT ON THE MARKET AGAIN> I WOULD BUY STOCK IN IT>>

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Favorite Family Tradition

9 Responses to “Favorite Family Tradition”

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