We had an early Thanksgiving celebration with my mom’s family this weekend. It was a delicious feast of sweet gratitude. When my grandma was alive, it was doubly sweet. Each year she made her cranberry relish from scratch, and it is better than any I’ve ever tasted. Fresh, fruity, and zesty, with a double portion of sugar, just like her. Now that she’s passed on, my grandpa has taken over making her traditional side dish. He puts in half as much sugar as she did, but it’s still tangy and tasty!

Cranberry Salad

2 cups fresh cranberries
3 apples
1 orange
1 (or 2) cups sugar

Core the apples. Slice the orange in quarters and remove all the seeds. Grind together in a hand grinder, food processor, or sturdy blender the cranberries, apples, and orange (including the peel). Stir in the sugar. Refrigerate over night and stir before serving the yumminess!

Grandma Willie always used to call me sugar or sweetie. They were the last words she said to me, “Hi there, sugar.” I missed her presence with us this holiday as we celebrated and feasted together. But I smile now as I remember her, and I realize that even though that was her nickname for me, she was the sweet one. Just like her famous cranberry salad.

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. ~Proverbs 16:24