Maybe I should have said " Dinner with...," or "Tea with..."

I got up this morning to 54 emails. By the time I had finished them, many more had been added. I have four sisters and two nieces on the round robin and lately lots of people have been mad and not emailing. But the Christmas Spirit has set in and they are all writing. It took me forever to get through them.

Words, memories, and cooking. That's what I said. So will try to stick to that when I start this blog in earnest on Jan. 1st. It's easy. It is all about what I care about most.

I have to decide what to call people on my blog. Will the sisters want to be referred to by their real names or will they want new names either from themselves or me? There has been a lot about my mother today in the family robin. Do I call her Mama, (which is what I did call her)? That might send a free and easy Southern picture of  us which wouldn't be the whole truth. Though she was Southern. Or Mother? My mother is what I usually say now, in reference, so let it be that until something else feels right.

Words and names are important. The most important things in the world. So much for words, today.

Memories. Our memories of my mother as of today were of her fastidiousness in such things as food, house managing, reading matter, and her person and dress. Then there was the conflict of her being able to snicker and snort at a low joke.  Not necessarily what's considered low nowadays. But low then, in her day and my childhood, when we went to the movies of the thirties together and I learned when to laugh and at what.

 My sisters and I were talking about jam, and I told how I loved all jam and jellies almost better than any other sweet. Mother loved plum jam and currant jam the best, and she did not like apple jelly. She turned up her nose at it, especially the cheap kind we found in South Texas grocery stores.

That leads us up to cooking. Here is the recipe for today. Laugh as you will, it comes in handy because I do not like to waste food.  Here is jam for the refrigerator, perhaps to be warmed up on the stove later if you want it hot (to go on pancakes, perhaps.) Say you have two or three discovered apricots that have been hiding in the refrigerator. Cut them up, add a little less sugar than the volume of the fruit, and cook it on the stove till clear and fragrant. Pour into a jar, cover, and this time do not forget it. You will be glad you have it when you make toast tomorrow.
All for now, YAZZYBEL