Christmas gatherings for the Fitzgerald family would have been incomplete without Grandma Kay’s Peanut Butter Balls. She is long deceased, so I made them in her memory again this year. My mother’s parishioner friend, Mrs. Schunk, made her popular corn souffle for their Martha Committee hospitality funeral luncheons. Mom got the recipe years ago and it has been a non-negotiable side dish for Thanksgiving ever since. My friend Linda has a great recipe for creamed spinach. My daughter-in-law loves it too and made it for her family’s Thanksgiving dinner. Her stepsister asked for the recipe because her husband wanted it again a few days later at their own family gathering. For years, I would buy Mrs. Plunket’s Irish soda bread at the St. Patrick’s Catholic Daughter’s bake sales. She died, but her friend gave me the recipe; I fondly think of her when I make it.

I am thinking about these women and many others who have generously shared their prized recipes, because my sister made a new sugar cookie this year. She got the recipe from Ree Drumond’s website, “The Pioneer Woman.” Ree explained, “This was given to me by the late Sally Holcomb, a beloved member of our small-town church. I loved her, and I loved her cookies.”

Family life is centered around meals and all families have their prized dishes and baked goods that have been passed down from older family members and friends. Cooking, baking, and sharing recipes is a homey, generous way of life and people like Kay, Mrs. Schunk, Linda, Mrs. Plunket, and Sally that create and pass on their treats are leaving an important legacy. In contrast, I have heard of people who are so possessive of their secret recipes that they die with them and eventually the dish and the person are both forgotten. This all seems very relevant to me, at this time of year, as we celebrate the Holy Family and their thirty silent, ordinary years. I am confident that our Blessed Mother was a good cook and that she and her neighbors shared recipes. St. Joseph was a skilled craftsman, and he taught his Son and others his skills.

Not many of us are called to be great theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas. Very few are called to lives of voluntary poverty like St. Teresa of Calcutta. But all of us are called to love and serve our neighbors and that can be done in simple ways. Let us be generous with our talents so that the world will be a bit more hospitable, more beautiful, and more delicious.

Scripture: Read 2 Corinthians 9:10. What stands out?

Call to Action: Reflect on your skills and resolve to teach and share them with others this year.