New Family Holiday...

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of my grandma, Grace, passing away. She was quite possibly the most amazing person I have ever known. She was, as some of you know, responsible for most of my amazing personality. She took care of us while our parents worked, taught me to cook, swim, and ski; passed on her impeccable fashion sense, handed down her sense of humor, and loved everybody. So how should we honor her? I thought about it all year and finally decided to declare a new holiday.... Grace Day!

Grace married my grandpa, Harry, when they were teenagers. They were married by a blind justice of the peace... so that he would not question their ages. They had too much fun together. Stories range from Grace being accident prone... almost shooting Harry rather than a rat, ramming Harry through a cement wall with a car, being attacked by a "tame" deer, nearly drowning Harry in the swan river; to her amazing strength during WWII when she drove semi trucks over mountain passes and took a pin up picture for him to have during the war, to the way they raised their 5 boys. Many of her stories ended with her giving Harry a glass of Blackberry Brandy; her cure for everything from a stomach ache to shock.

Then there was her cooking! She was the most amazing cook. She always had treats waiting, never minded cooking for a few extra people, and made sure NOBODY ever left her house hungry. One of the boy's friends once told her she was like a "Jewish grandma" since she always fed people. She always welcomed friends and family into her home, and never gave a second thought to the amount of work it was to entertain. She thrived off her group of "Hippie Mothers" and the outings they did as well as the unexpected people that would stop in "just to say hi", but ended up staying for hours. Everybody was greeted warmly and with food.

My years growing up were spent in her home, across the street from my own, and at Flathead Lake. Always listening to stories of their lives... never ending stories. Right when I would think I had heard them all they would spit out another I had never heard. She was a strong woman who found what worked for her and lived it, she was as headstrong as she was loving, and she was never "just" a mom or grandmother... she was just our everything.

So, for Grace, on the anniversary of her death we will celebrate her life. We will eat old fashioned pasties for dinner (her Butte specialty), have brownies or fudge for desert, we will share stories of her, and we will remember everything about her. She will be first and foremost in our hearts. On every other day our house will, as it has always been, be open to friends and family, always have good food available, and more than likely will have a new story to be told. I guess we all know now who I ended up taking after!