Stir in a pinch of nostalgia

Now that Thanksgiving is over it’s time to start planning for the holidays. For many of us, that means carving time out of a busy schedule to spend a few hours in the kitchen.

Homemade goodies are an important ingredient in the celebrations that are so much a part of this time of year. Heirloom recipes, favorite treats and gifts made from scratch fill the house with the fragrance of hospitality and sharing.

Each year, when it’s time to bake, I pull out an old yelloware bowl. My mother picked it up at an estate sale when I was a teenager and she used it to mix the batter for cakes or the ingredients for cornbread dressing. When it wasn’t being used, it sat on the sideboard filled with apples or oranges, transformed from a workaday tool into art. When it was time to set up my own kitchen I begged for the bowl and she relented.

I use the bowl occasionally throughout the year, but always during the holidays. It’s one of the ways I honor other women. Women like my mother. And like the woman who had it before her.

The big yellow bowl is more than 100 years old. It’s got a lot of history. I like to think that some of that history is blended into everything that is stirred and mixed in it.

Just like the perfect holiday celebration.