FAMILIES KEEP FOOD TRADITIONS ALIVE

Spending time together in the kitchen is part of the fabric of the holiday season.

Certain smells and certain foods trigger memories of holidays when generations gather to celebrate, feast and spend time together. Two Denver Post staff members share their family traditions of making tamales, and latkes.

Every year, in the month before Christmas, my sisters and I pull out our old recipes and gather family and friends to make a Polish delicacy, pierogis. The countertops and tables in our kitchens end up covered with tea towels, cutting boards, bowls, measuring cups, pots and pans. Baking sheets and butter and onions are everywhere, as are multiple trays of potato and cheese or cabbage filling. Flour motes fill the air — and so does the chatter and the laughter of our loved ones.

Food binds us together, especially at the holidays. Even though my sisters and their families are 1,800 miles away, participating in this family tradition never fails to make me feel closer to them.

Other families have their own food traditions, and on page 3C, two Denver Post staffers shared theirs.

Happy holidays!

Linda Shapley hosts “Tamale Day” every year to kick off the holidays. Her family gets together to make a big batch of tamales. Photos by Amy Brothers, The Denver Post

Francie Swidler and her mom, Pearl Swidler, (above) make latkes with applesauce and sour cream (below) for Hanukkah.