As we enter the holiday season, I’ve been thinking about the family traditions that surround Thanksgiving and Christmas. It doesn’t hurt that in this holiday issue, I’ve been learning about the treasured traditions of families across Maple Grove. Whether it’s families who wake up early Thanksgiving morning to run the Turkey Trot and earn their bird or a dad who sets up a dazzling light display for the lead-up to Christmas, residents spend this season coming together in a multitude of ways.
My family’s holiday traditions center around the kitchen. From circling up on Thanksgiving to share what we’re grateful for to streamlining our Christmas cookie production line, all of our holidays orbit around the proverbial hearth (which, in this case, is the oven). Over the years, my mom has assumed the mantle of hosting Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My brother and I were deputized as appetizer assistants (fruit plate and charcuterie board respectively). As relatives begin to arrive at the house and mill about, they naturally gravitate toward the heart of the action. (“Everyone out of my kitchen!” is a common refrain issued with varying degrees of urgency.)
When I spoke with Yana Maloylo, manager at the family-owned and run Prestige Market & Deli, she said that Christmas is a family-centric celebration in Eastern Europe, particularly in Belarus where her family is originally from. “Everybody gets together and prepares food and hangs out for days preparing for a feast, essentially,” she says. The Maple Grove market supplies many Eastern European families with the ingredients to continue these traditions at home, while the deli serves holiday specialties that add a festive touch to the dinner table.
What are your family’s favorite ways to celebrate the season? Let me know at madeline@localmedia.co.
Happy Holidays,
—Madeline Kopiecki
