It's More Than Pies

Last year we started a new tradition at our house. Every Thursday night we have a Celebration Pie.

We didn't always do this. You need a reason to celebrate. Ours started with a summer when one of our daughters was very ill with a flare-up of rheumatoid arthritis and another with asthma. The first daughter was actually too ill to want to watch TV or movies or anything - except - she discovered the Food Channel. Half hour food shows were tolerable. Nothing intense suited her just fine.

Now, we were always an apple pie family. There is nothing better than warm cinnamony apple pie with a little ice cream. But, Rebecca discovered that there could be other kinds of pies. Guess I get stuck in ruts. Somebody says pie, I think apple. She started telling me about all the stuff she was learning, and some of those pies really did sound good. Being sick most of the summer gave her time to get lots of ideas.

When fall came, and it was time for Rebecca to get back at the school schedule (she teaches private music lessons with her sisters), we did not know if she was going to be strong enough to make it through a whole week of teaching. They teach Monday through Thursday with Friday for book work.

The first week was tough. On Thursday, I decided we needed to celebrate the completion of a whole week of teaching. So, I baked a pie. Not just any pie. It was an apple pie. It was an apple pie with some blueberries in it. It had some extra spices too. It was a celebration. And it was very, very good.

That pie was so good that the next week I decided we needed to celebrate again. It was apple pie again. Apple pie with some cherries in it. Too good!!!

I discovered you can make apple pie with raspberries and peaches and pears. Boy, those apple pies were good. Eventually, I tried a cream pie. One week we had cheese cake. One week we combined the celebration night with a birthday and had blueberry shortcake. WOW

So, you see. It started with a serious illness and developed into a tradition. We celebrate the end of the teaching days every week. But, it is really more than that. It is a celebration of life. We celebrate the fact that we are together, a family, working and living and enjoying each day that God allows us to walk on this earth.