Merry Christmas, Crop Share Family!

I'm sitting here back in Ohio with 1 hour to go till my family's Christmas Eve dinner kicks off.  The rest of the Nalls crew has wrapped up for 2013 and are headed home to their families.  All is as it should be today.

There's no way to think about the holiday season, whichever holiday you celebrate or don't celebrate, and not have your thoughts turn to family.  Some of us may be be celebrating this season with some empty seats at our tables, and some of us may have had to make room for more.  Either way, these are the times to hold the folks we love close, whether they are related to us by blood or are friends who are more like family than our own relatives.  Memories, traditions and love are what make these times so special.  It's how we honor those who used to occupy those empty seats, and it's how we give those intangible gifts to those who've we've made room for around the table.

So while I get misty eyed and think about my family, those that are here, and those that are the dearly departed, I wonder, what are the traditions and memories of the rest of the Crop Share family?  Since so many of them undoubtedly center around food, I'd love to know what are those special recipes that just always bring back a flood of memories?  Send your recipes, ramblings, musings, what have you to tara@nallsproduce.com and I'll share them here.

Seeing as I'm from a city that is almost exclusively Greek, Italian, Irish and Slovak, those 4 ethnicities influence how we all eat and celebrate.  And though neither my family nor the Mister's family has a lick of Italian in them, it's just not Christmas in Youngstown until someone makes Italian Wedding Soup.

Heaven in a bowl!

Usually it's one of our family friends who actually is Italian, but this year, my mother-in-law got a hold of her best friend's recipe (who is Italian and has a large family to impress with her cooking) and she made a big batch of Wedding Soup that was egg, dairy & gluten free (I now have the recipe, so look for that soon on here)!  My mother-in-law is a goddess!  And last night my parents were busy whipping up a batch of their homemade stuffing that is now proudly also dairy, egg and gluten-free.  Both families have added an extra seat at their table over the past 3 years, and both have just gone above and beyond to accommodate the Mister's and my crazy food allergies.  So while our families' respective holidays look a tad different than they used to, we can all agree they just keep getting better and better, new traditions are made, and our bonds of love grow stronger.

So from our Nalls Produce family, we wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and much joy in the New Year!  We'll hope to see you all back the first weekend in January for the start of our Deep Winter Crop Share.  Until then, I leave you with this little gem...

When I go to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, I go ALL out!

Merry Christmas everyone!