Fruit Salad and Gram

I remember going to my Gram's house and she would always have a freezer full of frozen dinners. She always said she didn't ever have anyone to cook for, so why bother. There were a couple of times though, that I remember Gram cooking. Gram is my Mom's mother. Mom is the oldest of six kids, so you can imagine Gram has done her fair share of cooking well before I came along.

When we moved to Connecticut, sometimes Gram would come visit us for the holidays and she would get there before Christmas Eve. This allowed her to drive with us as we looked at the Christmas lights on houses. My parents would drive us around for a few hours staring at the lights, making the same comments every year:

"I don't really like all red lights."
"Remember how we used to use those big bulbs? So glad we switched to the smaller ones."
"They have all of those 'lectronic lights that keep moving- it's too busy."
"Look at that house- look at it- all of the lights are being held up by one piece of duct tape!"
"Why would they put a wreath in every window and not on the door?"

Then my Mom would make one of us kids jump out of the car to put an award in their mailbox. The award could be 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. It could be brightest, most creative or most lights. They were all written out on construction paper. Sometimes we glued old Christmas cards to the paper. We always signed them, "The Carter Family." As if these people who lived several miles from our home knew who we were. But it was a nice way of spreading cheer and letting people know that someone, somewhere appreciated their efforts. I'm surprised she didn't make us ring the doorbell and sing Christmas carols. Later on, I think my Mom got more sophisticated with the awards, printing them out on a computer.

Then Gram would help us unwrap our gifts on Christmas morning, help us put new things together, pick up all of the crumpled wrapping paper and would just be a part of our family. Not many people came to visit us in Connecticut, it seemed and it was so nice to see her and spend time with her.

When Mom was still cooking Christmas dinner, Gram would offer to make the fruit salad and she would ask me to help. Gram made the best fruit salad and I never had anything like it since. It had all kinds of fruit, a creamy sauce, and even those little miniature marshmallows. My Mom would also make the fruit salad if Gram was not there and she would also make it on important holidays like Thanksgiving and Easter. Oddly, we never made the fruit salad just because we felt like making fruit salad- we only made it on the holidays for these big dinners.

She took several cans of fruit cocktail and dumped them in the bowl. She sliced bananas and added them to the mix. Then she asked me to head to the fridge for the mayonnaise. Mayonnaise? Wha? There's mayonnaise in fruit salad? I asked her if she was sure a few times and she promised me that it was the ingredient, as she started laughing. We scooped the mayo into the bowl and added the miniature marshmallows. I tasted it and sure enough, this was the fruit salad that I loved and the one she always made. Who knew you could mix mayonnaise with fruit? I am sure it is not recommended by nutritionists everywhere, but it sure does taste delicious! I remember that before she chilled it in the fridge, I made a small bowl for myself, covered it with plastic wrap and hid it on the back of the shelf. This way, once I had seconds at dinner, and all of the fruit salad was gone, I would still have a back-up.

Not very long ago, I remember talking to Gram on one Mother's Day. She told me that she had started her very own vegetable garden. I was surprised to hear that and happy that she would start a hobby. I asked her what she did with all of the vegetables. She said that she eats them! I was elated to hear that my Gram uses her kitchen and not just her microwave.

I still make Gram's fruit salad on occasion, often omitting the marshmallows now, because somehow it seems like more of a grown-up version without them.