There it is on the breakfast table every Christmas: the egg-and-sausage casserole.
It is simple enough to make: 6 eggs, a cup of grated American cheese, 2 cups of milk, whipped together with a dash of mustard and salt. Poured over browned Jimmy Dean sausage on a bed of Crescent rolls in a flat dish.
Voila! That’s Ann’s breakfast casserole steaming in front of you on a hot pad. Dig in!
This dish has found its way to my sister’s holiday table. And my table. And the tables of several other families. Some children and grandchildren ask for it to be there.
Where do these traditions come from? Does it matter? This dish is one of those signposts and reminders of relationships past. As is said, people come into and out of your life for a reason, a season or a purpose. There are leavings and leftovers left behind long after they are gone. Such is this casserole.
I’ve eaten at Ann’s table. Seen the handiwork of her carpenter husband. Learned about dogs and life from her daughter. Met and laughed with her grandchildren. She’s long gone now, but every holiday season, we meet up again. And I savor the memories as much as I do that sausage.
Merry Christmas. Be sure and celebrate the Anns in your life.
12/25/24, 2:31am
