Everyone wants to feel connected to their family. We want something to hold onto that reminds us of the love we share and the time we spend together. This may be found in Grandma’s flatware, Dad’s tool box, the antique game board or the tattered bedtime storybook that was finally put to rest itself. While these sentimental items can be tucked away in little boxes or displayed on a glass shelf, I find that what carries some of my dearest memories is something that cannot be polished, presented or preserved. It can only be re-created.
It is my family’s tradition for the girls to gather in the kitchen and, through a group effort, make what we light-heartedly call “puppy chow.” For us, it is generations of festivity all packed into one tasty little morsel. It is present and to be expected at every family gathering. It is the pre-show to the red, white and blue fireworks. It sits in a bowl next to the pumpkin pie and Watergate salad. Puppy chow is what gave us a white Christmas in the snowless land of south Texas. Even when the calendar gives us no excuse to break out the holiday spirit, we can follow a whim and make a day of it regardless. That is one of the things I love about it. No matter the time or season, puppy chow creates an environment that is sure to lift our spirits.
It is like magic. There may be nothing special about the chocolate or powdered sugar itself, but there is something very special about the process. If we want it to be its best, it calls for teamwork. We each have roles that work in harmony, and we in turn are in harmony with each other. The time that we spend in the kitchen together is filled with smiles and laughter. We concentrate and are very careful while trying not to crush the delicate cereal squares as we stir in the melted chocolate, but we can’t take ourselves too seriously when we later shake these same squares in a big bag of powdered sugar. That is one of my oldest memories of making this fun desert. My mom would put powdered sugar in paper grocery bags and then pour in the still-warm squares. My brother, sister and I would parade, bags in hand, to the front yard and shake those things as hard as we could. Our little bodies were probably shaking just as much as the paper bags! It was for fun. It was time spent together. That was enough to make it a family tradition.
When we make it still, we are just as giddy as we were then, laughing as we hold tight and try to keep from making a white cloud. That is what goes into it: laughter, along with tradition, family, love and honest-to-goodness fun. There is no constraint, no limit, and nothing to keep us from enjoying ourselves. We are all a part of it and so is anyone we share it with. Its ability to be shared is one of its greatest features. When we give people some of this dessert, we are sharing with them a bit of our family, our love and our memories. We give openly with the mindset that we are spreading joy to whomever will delight in it as we do. The recipe is no secret. It can be recopied as many times as needed. It does not have to be divided in an estate or fought over between sentimental siblings. It can go with each of us. The experience and the bonding tied to it are the things truly sought after. Old memories can be unlocked and new memories can be created. It is life.That is the beauty of “puppy chow.”
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