This morning I was up with the baby at 3:30. She just needed a quick back rub and went back to sleep. Drama-less. Thankfully.

Since my alarm was set for 4:00 anyway, I ended up staying up. I tried to lay back down, but what’s the point?

So I decided to try to make my grocery list for today. I have to buy all of our Christmas food. I needed the recipe for “fart blossoms” (peanut butter cookies with Hershey Kisses on top). I opened my grandmothers little black recipe box to see if it was in there.

I sorted through the white recipe cards with the potted flower graphic running along the top. These were newer recipes, likely taken from Taste of Home or Redbook. Vegetable and Sausage Chili. Santa Fe Chicken Pasta.

White cards with a large butterfly on the left side, taking up a good quarter of the card. These are slightly older. Fruit Cocktail Cake. Deviled Hamburgers.

I squinted to read recipes written on bright pink recipe cards, where drops of water and sauces helped to fade the old ink and pencil. Sugar Cookies. Cornell Barbeque Sauce. Beef Stroganoff.

There were clippings, new and old. Randomly placed alphabetical dividers.

There were a surprising amount of recipes written in my mother’s handwriting. Her young handwriting – small, undefined, relaxed. Beef Stew Provencal. Tantalizing Baked Beans. Some recipes were written by my aunt Molly, with that same young, undefined, happy stroke. Wholegrain Jam Squares. Curried Chicken.

All of the recipes give credit to where they came from. Mimi’s Cheesecake. Irish Cream from Judy. Asparagus Casserole from Mary Lou, which calls for the crumbs of exactly 18 crackers! I love that casserole, I will have to make it for Ben – he loves asparagus.

I never did find the Fart Blossom recipe in that box, but I did find it written on an envelope in my recipe folder. So off to the store I go to gather ingredients. I just might have to make something from that box for dinner tonight.

I would love to know – do you have any family dishes you love to cook?