Mom's tip: Family traditions

By Megan Ulland, Guest columnist

We went home for Thanksgiving this year for the first time in five years. None of our family is within driving distance of us anymore, so we packed ourselves up and joined the ranks of airport travelers for the long Thanksgiving Weekend. We spent a chilly but wonderful week on my husband’s family farm in southern Minnesota. It was a treat to be so removed from the hustle and bustle of city life. The kids could run outside for hours in the crisp air, exploring the sheds, the orchard, and the paths in the woods.

My son finally stopped running and actually stood still for a solid fifteen minutes when a combine working in the next field caught his eye. By the end of the week, he was telling us all about the combines: how they harvested corn, drove down the fields, drove along the road and then at night didn’t move. His language took a significant leap while we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa, which was wonderful for them because they don’t get to see him in person more than a few times a year.

Thanksgiving has always been a special holiday for my mother-in-law. She cooks a very traditional Thanksgiving feast of ham, turkey, green bean casserole, biscuits, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. She pours a huge amount of love into her cooking and it shows in the delicious meal. We arrived on Monday and started cooking and preparing for Thanksgiving Tuesday morning!

One special family tradition passed down from generations past that appears on the dinner table at each holiday is lefse. Served with butter and sugar, this Norwegian soft flatbread is delicious. It is made on a lefse griddle. The first time I ate lefse was at my in-laws’ house at Thanksgiving ten years ago. This year was the first year we got to help make it. In years past, we’d come to the farm for Thanksgiving Day and the lefse would already be made (we hadn’t been to the farm for Thanksgiving since the kids were born). We own a lefse griddle and make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house or my parents’ house, but we’ve never made it with the expert! The kids donned on aprons, picked up the lefse sticks and were official bubble poppers and turners. It was great to watch the family tradition handed down for another generation. My son tried the lefse and fell in love immediately. My daughter, though, was a bit more cautious, only trying it after coaxing from Grandpa. Forgoing the traditional Thanksgiving desserts of pumpkin and apple pie, our kids begged for more lefse. Grandma and Grandpa were happy to oblige that simple request. That left more pumpkin pie for me!

Megan Ulland is the mother of two toddlers who lives in Newton.