11 December 2010

'Twas sort of a Christmas tradition...

...when I was growing up.  About this time in December, we'd make the trip from Maryland down to the family place in Virginia.  Daddy and I would go out in search of the perfect Christmas tree - always a cedar.  He'd chop it down and haul it back to the house. Later, mom would even venture into the woods (a feat for her with her crippled legs from polio) and we'd hunt up some running pine, running cedar, and clip some holly branches with bright red berries.  Then we'd haul it all back to Maryland to decorate the house.  We often came home too with some delicious country butter and some sausage and scrapple from Aunt Emma, and maybe even some country ham.  Mom liked to put the holly in an old milk crock that used to belong to Grandma Bess, and she'd arrange some of the running cedar in a heavy glass pitcher (it also was Grandma Bess's - and we still have it).  Sadly, around these parts I've never noticed either running cedar or running pine, but I'm delighted we can still get a cedar tree for decorating.  Amazing how the smell of the cedar brings back memories of long gone days like nothing else can.

5 comments:

Mike Westfall said...

Errr... Scrapple. My relatives back east say it's yummy stuff, but I, having tasted it once when I was a kid, humbly disagree.

William Weedon said...

Oh, I rather like it. I think of it as sausage that falls apart and won't hold together. Great with some scrambled eggs!

Sue said...

I know what you mean about smells bringing back fond memories - I grew up with Douglas fir (Oregon), so that does it for me.

Jeremy Loesch said...

Hear, hear on the Scrapple Will. Living close to the Eastern Shore, it seems you can find a Scrapple fundraiser every weekend, not including the Scrapple extravaganza in southern DE. It's not my favorite, I'm a traditional bacon guy, but with eggs it's quite good.

Jeremy

PS- To what part of VA did you go?

David Clapper said...

Larn sumthin nu evry dae ... I didn't know scrapple made it that far south, I thought it was a Pa Dutch thing ...

I love it too, but early in our marriage, we went to visit my family, and when my Long Island-raised wife saw it, she said, "Gee, I never saw grey food before!"