Smells of Tradition

Isn’t he funny how smells can take you back to a memory of a different time and place?  My husband cooked one of those big bone-in hams today in a large roaster. The ten pound ham was the traditional gift from the company that he received each year.  The smell started drifted throughout the house around 10 a.m. right after church, yummy pineapple mixed with red maraschino cherries.  My son came up the steps saying, “Smells like Thanksgiving!”  The smell of that delicious ham seemed to just make the house happy and everyone inside feel happier.  It took me back to Christmas as a young girl when mom baked using her old blue pan.  We had a dark brown oven in the wall that screeched every time you pulled the door down.  Of course, today we all had to sample a piece included our little black poodle.  She enjoyed the bone for about 15 minutes until it was making quite a mess on our white linoleum kitchen floor.  The only way to pry her away from her real piece of thick juicy pink meat.  Well, all the ham is all bagged up now, roaster put way until next time, and I am smiling with the relief of leftovers for supper and no more cooking for the day.