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What kind of holiday traditions did your family have when you were growing up? Do you still carry on those traditions? Have you started any new traditions of your own that are a result of our much more mobile life today?

I’m curious to know because sometimes I feel as though my family is the only one that has to WORK to be able to get together for any one holiday. We’re all spread out among 4 states and coordinating holiday time together each year can be a REAL challenge at times.

The last few years DH and I have decided to stay home during December simply because of the unpredictable and surprising weather patterns our state has experienced in recent years. One year there were the two back-to-back ice storms here in Arkansas that literally froze up the state and shut it down for days. Another year there was the surprise snow storm that snarled traffic for hours as folks all tried to get home before the roads were covered.

Fortunately, we didn’t have any holiday travel plans either year. Both weather events happened right about the 2nd and 3rd week of December. One of those two weeks would’ve been about the time we would’ve planned trips due to DH not being able to get off work the actual week of Christmas.

We’ve been known to make use of our computer video camera to at least be able to “spend the holidays” together with out-of-state family members. Of course, it’s nothing like being truly being together, but it sure beats no contact at all or having to talk one-at-a-time on the phone with each other.

So, what are your traditions, old and new?

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Y’all enjoy yourselves as you answer the door, take your kids or grandkids to the Halloween party, host a Halloween party, or attend one. I think I’ll just curl up on the couch with my own personal bag of candy corn and enjoy some reruns of the Halloween shows I watched when I was a kid.

Of course, my all time favorite is It’s the Pumpkin Patch, Charlie Brown. Oh, how I wanted desperately to believe there REALLY was a Great Pumpkin that would magically appear in the pumpkin patch bearing gifts for those of us who dared to believe. I would’ve gladly sat with Linus all night long given the opportunity and waited patiently for him to arrive.

I’m sure it would’ve been just as fun as the time years ago when my kids were younger and we went trick-or-treating with friends. A couple that are long time friends of mine and DH’s, their kids, myself and our kids all loaded up in the back of their truck to trick-or-treat. Now this other couple hadn’t had the pleasure as kids themselves of really enjoying Halloween and its traditions so they had a tendency to get just as if not more excited than their kids during holidays.

Anyway, the kids all piled into the back of the truck and off we went to the first street filled with lit porch lights and unidentifiable kids EVERYWHERE…hundreds of ‘em…divided up among only 4, maybe 5, different costumes (they ALL bought them at the SAME store)!

Don’t you just LOVE trying to keep up with your own kids when they get mixed up in that crowd of costumes?! It was a trick to keep track of your own kids and a treat when you managed to survive the evening and bring home the right costume, er kid.

Once I yelled out, “Hey, get back over here with us!” thinking I was addressing one of MY kids only to hear the costume I was addressing tell me, “You’re not my Mom!” To which I responded with, “Well, what kid does YOUR Mom have?!” At that both of us then turned to seek out the missing parties, my kid and the Costume’s Mom.

We found them soon enough…the Costume’s Mom was frantically seeking HER kid and MY kid was frantically seeking me because she could no longer handle her 30 lb. bag of candy. Yes, that’s what I said…30 lb bag of candy. I hear you…”30 lbs?!” you’re wondering.

Well, that’s how heavy the bags of candy get when you go trick-or-treating with a couple that has decided to live their childhood through all our kids and keep telling them to… “Keep on truckin’, kids! We want LOTS of candy!”

Unfortunately, we weren’t in MY vehicle so I wasn’t in control of transportation, therefore, I couldn’t steer that sucker towards home. The kids and I had no choice but to “keep on truckin’”, albeit, footin’ it…in the ‘burbs….down a dozen streets…each with no less than 15 front doors with lit porch lights…on each side of the street.

NOW do you understand why I’m going to curl up on the couch with my own personal bag of candy corn and watch my favorite Halloween movie AGAIN?

Btw, it took me weeks to pick through all that candy to make sure it was all safe for my kids to eat over the next 3 years of their lives. And, no, I was NOT brave enough to allow them to indulge themselves and rapidly diminish the candy supply.

I was too pooped from the trick-or-treating and candy pickin’ to have any energy left to catch them and secure them as they bounced from wall to wall. As usual, DH was on a train somewhere. Thank God that part of life is over.

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Today is Grandparents Day, (September 9), and in honor of my grandmother, Ruth, I am writing this post. She is 85 years old now and has Alzheimer’s. She no longer knows who I am.

I spent a lot of time with her growing up and then some. I’m always comparing dishes I make or eat to hers. Nothing ever seems to compare, maybe that’s because she didn’t make with her own two hands.

She had all these little sayings too. I catch myself repeating them, for example, if I didn’t clean my plate (as a child…not any more), she would say “you’re eyes were bigger than your stomach”.

My grandmother loved coconut, specifically Coconut Cake. I never was a big coconut cake eater, but she did have this one recipe that I really liked and make quite often. Some of you may already be familiar with this recipe, but if you will accommodate me I would like to post this in her honor.

Coconut Cake

1 Box White or Yellow Cake Mix
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Large Container Cool Whip (12 ounce)
2 Packages Frozen Coconut, thawed

Mix and bake Cake according to directions on box in a 13”x9” cake pan (I prefer a glass pan). Allow to cool. Generously poke holes in top of cake with a fork or straw. Gradually pour milk over cake and spread evenly allowing to absorb into the cake. Top with cool whip and then coconut. Refrigerate for one hour before serving. Keep refrigerated. This recipe makes a great refreshing summer time dessert.

Bon Apetit
The Backseat Gourmet

Updated - Edited to add signature

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