When my mother was a new mom, my father started a tradition: breakfast in bed. Scrambled eggs, toast, crisp bacon, her inevitable strong fresh-brewed coffee, and a bowl of sliced strawberries dusted with sugar and doused in half and half.
As the years went on and my brothers and I got bigger, the tradition continued. Of course, it grew to involve three young children bouncing around on the bed with her arguing over who got the sunday comics first. The menu, however, remained the same. Scrambled eggs, toast, crisp bacon, strong fresh-brewed coffee, and a bowl of sliced strawberries dusted with sugar and doused in half and half.
Even when the children all grew into responsible adults and began leading lives away from Mom and Dad, the tradition continued. Those of us in town continued to perch on the bed with Mom and eat that same breakfast. I took over brewing the coffee since I turned out to be the one who followed in Mom’s footsteps while my brothers grew up to be tea drinkers like Dad.
Then Mom told me a secret one Mother’s Day – her very last, as it turned out. Every year she looked forward to and dreaded Mother’s Day. She loved the presents, she loved the breakfast menu…but she detested beyond expression trying to eat it in bed! She just never had the heart to tell Dad because he was so proud to have come up with something that romantic on his own.
So who out there has a Mother’s Day tradition that involves food? I’d love to hear about it!
The menu often varies, but we also always made my mom breakfast in bed. My dad took to making oven toast– that is, toast made directly on the oven rack with nothing to catch the butter drips (which of course meant my mom had to spend an hour later– usually while he was in the shower or taking a nap– cleaning the oven before she could use it for anything else!). She finally was honest with him a few years ago, and he was pretty mortified that he’d been making more work for her all those years!
Now that I’m grown I tried to start a tradition where I make a big lunch at my parents’ house (with some help from my brothers) and invite all the extended family– grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins– over. Unfortunately I can’t do that every year because I live 300 miles away now, and this year gas was too expensive to get down there!!
Comment by VerseFameBeauty — May 11, 2008 @ 1:35 pm
It always involves food with my mom! This year due to scheduling we celebrated yesterday and I did tri tip rubbed down with ground peppercorns, garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus with garlic butter, which ended up getting caramelized in it’s packets as the grill got too hot… but they were still yummy!
Comment by AmazonPrincess — May 11, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
About 15 or 20 years ago, I was trying to make up a menu for Mother’s Day, and I decided to try making French Onion Soup. I had to fiddle a bit since we don’t have the crock bowls, but it turned out very good. Ever since then, I’ve made Mother’s Day dinner, and I always make French Onion Soup.
I should ask mom if she still wants it. I keep making it because I assume she does.
Comment by Ripley — May 11, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
We always, always have angel food cake on Mother’s Day. And my mom’s birthday, and my parents anniversary. It’s my mom’s favorite cake, but it has to be made using the two-step mix from Stater Bros (California grocery chain…we stock up when we visit our CA relatives), not store bought. One year we tried making one from scratch. It was a disaster, but so much fun. The kitchen was covered in egg whites from when the mixer got out of control.
Comment by Rachael — May 11, 2008 @ 9:13 pm
My dad always makes my mom Eggs Benedict. I grew up thinking hollandaise sauce was actually called “holidays sauce” because we only ever had it on holidays. :-)
Comment by boots — May 12, 2008 @ 8:37 am
I came back from time spent living in Germany with (among other things) a bunch of vintage Mad Magazine paperback bound comic collections in German. One of the comics that comes to mind now and again features a woman complaining to her friend about how utterly gross breakfast in bed is.
Her kids in the next room catch only the tail end of her diatribe and are ecstatic because they finally know what to do for mom for Mother’s Day. Why, it’s breakfast in bed, of course!
Growing up in a split family, I didn’t have a dad around to start a Mother’s Day tradition. The only tradition I have — and I don’t much like it — is that my gift is usually something I make myself and it usually makes my mamman cry. One year I painted her a big ox head. Sometimes I write her a poem. This year’s gift involves sewing and photographs, but not together. She still has this HUGE African violet thing I bought her at a school fair when I was in elementary school. It started out tiny…
Comment by Never teh Bride — May 12, 2008 @ 8:48 am
One year my dad gave my mom the gift of cooking breakfast for the kids- all year.
Poached eggs and salmon croquettes , Monday through Friday for a year! I still cant be in the same room with a poached egg.
My mom isn’t the pick of the litter so my new tradition started last year. I mail her a card and send flowers to her office.
Comment by Peaches — May 12, 2008 @ 9:42 am
Wow! You guys have some great Mother’s Day food traditions! Boots, in particular I’ve fallen in love with the idea of Holidays sauce. And Peaches, as much as I’m fond of a good poached egg and completely nuts about salmon croquettes, I don’t think I’d be able to face either after an entire year of eating them five days a week! Yikes!
Oh, and Ripley? If it turns out your mom doesn’t want the French onion soup? You can always send it my way. ; )
Comment by Twistie — May 12, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
This year, my 9 year old brought me pancakes in bed, which was very wonderful, except she put chocolate chips in them. But I loved them anyway, and her always!
Comment by CeeCee — May 14, 2008 @ 8:37 pm
Lol! CeeCee, dont you know that everything is better with chocolate.
What a sweet mothers day for you :)
Comment by Peaches — May 15, 2008 @ 9:56 am