My favorite time of the year is here. I love autumn. I love the color. I love the chill in the air and the prospect of a hot cup of cocoa. I love winter. I love the preparation for all the holidays beginning with Halloween and ending with the New Year celebration. I love the family and friends get-togethers. I love the traditions.

My daughter and her best friend, Alicia, started their own tradition of trick or treating together since they were seven years old. This year marked a milestone as they went by themselves and collected their usual six pounds of candy. The weather was perfect; a lovely 62?, the warmest Halloween I can remember.

For Thanksgiving, my sister Connie and her children come to my house for dinner. I will host dinner this year again after not cooking the previous two years. My dearest friends, Jeanette and Joe, will also come with their son, Andrew. The day will start with putting the turkey in the oven and turning on the television for the Thanksgiving Day parade, something that has been done in my family since I was a little girl.

Two years ago we took our daughter to see the parade in person and the complaint was that it was not the same, that watching it on television was better. The funny thing is, she really does not sit and watch it, it is just turned on and is just there as a background entertainment.

I will serve all the traditional foods, recipes passed on from my mother. A curious thing is that some of the dishes I prepare are not a favorite of someone or another. My daughter, for example, does not like stuffing! We must have stuffing! My husband does not like the creamed onions or the noodles with cabbage! We must have those too. My niece, Cristina, does not like pumpkin pie! Got to have the pumpkin pie! Joe, if you can believe it, really does not like turkey! He will nibble a piece since it is a traditional part of the holiday. We must have a turkey!

There simply are some dishes that have to be made even if nobody eats them because somehow the holiday would not feel right.

Christmas is a time of many traditions in many families. Last year we went to dinner at another dear friends’ home for their traditional Italian Christmas Eve seafood dinner. Annette’s mother brought her Bacala salad (a cold cod fish salad). Though no one in her family eats it, not even herself, it is a dish that must be present at the dinner table. Without it, the holiday would simply not be the same in their family.

As we do every year, my daughter and I will decorate the trees. We have more than one. My husband has his own Star Wars tree. The other ones have decorations that my daughter and I have made throughout the years. We will try and bake cookies again this year and start a new tradition.

The New Year begins with the families coming to my home for dinner. We stay up and toast the New Year and then the fun begins. It is one of the children’s favorite day, next to Christmas, of course. For several years, we have kept our tradition of staying up til the wee hours in the morning playing Pictionary with my sister, her kids, and my husband’s brother, Louie. We all have the best time and begin the year with peels of laughter and family time.

Ok, there is one tradition that everyone will agree can be stopped.... no more fruit cakes!

I love this time of year!

“Traditions are the guideposts driven deep in our subconscious minds. The most powerful ones are those we can't even describe and aren't even aware of.”
~Ellen Goodman