I love Christmas.

I love the traditions. I love going to church at Christmas. I love the family time. I love the holiday parties. I love sending Christmas cards. I love receiving Christmas cards. I love picking out the perfect gifts for the people I love. And I love receiving gifts.

When it comes to gift giving, my favorite gifts to give are experiences. None of us needs more stuff and research shows that experiences bring more happiness than material possessions. When I do give material gifts, I work hard to ensure they’re gifts the recipients will cherish for years to come. I want them to be personal and meaningful, but not cheesy.

On July 4th, while hanging out at my aunt and uncle’s house, I floated the idea of creating a Gardner Family Cookbook and giving it to my dad’s siblings and their adult children a Christmas gift. The idea was initially met with hesitation and a little mocking from my dad, who doesn’t cook, but I persisted and began sending out email requests looking for everyone’s favorite recipes. I also asked for stories that went along with the recipes or  related photos. I was also hoping someone had recipes belonging to my Gardner Grandmother, Peg.

As the months moved on, recipes began to slowly trickle in. My dad, who initially laughed at the idea, even sent me random texts that said things like, “Grandma used to make an open faced hamburger sandwich. Hope this helps for the cookbook!” Um, ya. Each time he sent me one of these cryptic text messages, I went in search of the recipe and each time I was rewarded with either the recipe or enough information to find a similar recipe online.

My Aunt Barb had made a cookbook for her kids, Peter and Anna, when they each got married, and she sent me all of those recipes. My Aunt Connie had recipes that belonged to my grandmother. She also shared recipes and the stories behind them from my late Uncle Ray. Cousin Andrea submitted the most important recipe of them all – Grandma’s Cocktail. Peg liked her cocktails and taught us all to make them at an early age.

Recipes came with photos and stories that put great context around the food and drink. The cookbook that I hoped would have 20 or 30 recipes was ultimately filled with 100 recipes and was 50 pages in length. It includes recipes from almost every member of the family, plus my late grandmother, my grandfather’s late sister, and in-laws. I divided the cookbook into sections: Appetizers and Snacks; Salads and Salad Dressings; Entrees; Side Dishes; Desserts and Other Baked Goods; and Beverages. Each section title page has a family photo on it.

Although I’d always had a vision of what the cookbook would look like, the finished product was far better than I’d ever imagined. A book that I hoped would celebrate some of our favorite recipes turned into a Gardner Family History Lesson.

I’d encourage everyone to take on this project. Yes, it’s a bit of work and time consuming, but it’s incredibly rewarding. To make it easier, encourage your relatives to send you as many recipes as possible in Word, so you can just copy/paste them into your master document. Find out who has Grandma’s frayed cookbook with her handwritten notes in the margins or her recipe cards and get them scanned and emailed to you. Including recipes from across the generations helps create the history, even if they’re not recipes anyone makes anymore. I loved learning about the dishes Grandma Gardner cooked for her family, even if I’d never make them myself. I printed the cookbook at FedEx Office with a spiral binding, although websites like Blurb might be a good option for you, as well.

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