Merry Christmas - Banana Pie

Christmas time is just about here, and I think that this time of the year gets lots of us thinking about family. And no matter what Christmas I think of, I always think of banana pie.

We are a small family, both immediate and extended. For a number of years my youngest cousin Heather, used to make me some kind of banana chiffon pie for Christmas. She started this when she was in her teens, and continued it for quite a while. She is my Uncle Johns daughter, and we used to spend Christmas with them all the time. They would come over on Christmas Eve, and Heather would be right there with that pie. She would emphatically state that this was my pie to all. We didn't really exchange gifts with them, but Heather always brought me that pie.

The first year was a learning experience. Heather gave me the pie, and I did what you would do. I shared it with everyone. But one bite in, I knew I had really made a tremendous blunder of epic proportions. This was, and is without question the best pie I have ever eaten! That was the last year of the good will towards men option with the pie. I would start taking Heathers advice. It was my pie. This went on for years. Heather making it, and me hogging it, I'm not ashamed, and no one blamed me. For they too, would do the same if they had been the chosen one.

Time, miles and life, have spanned a long bridge since then, and the pie is just a story now in family lore. But it's a great memory for me. I am not a big brother as I am the youngest in my immediate family. But I felt like one then. Heather has no brothers, so maybe in those days she saw me as such. For some reason then I guess I was special to Heather and she just felt like doing something nice for me.

And you know, I never found out why Heather chose me for this honor. And I still don't know. I remember though that it always made me happy that a family member chose me for something a little extra special for no real reason, and asked for nothing in return. I never asked her, or my aunt and uncle why. I figured if Heather wanted to tell me, she would. It wouldn't be Christmas to me without thinking about it.

Over the years I have wondered, did that pie taste a little extra good because it was a nice gesture intended just for me? And the answer is yes. I mean how could it not be? I am always so moved at life's little gestures. The idea that someone takes time and would do something nice specifically for me......is still a big deal to me, and I think that is straight from Heather making me a pie. As a young adult at the time it meant a lot to me. And it still does.

I don't see Heather as much as I used to. She lives a long way away, and our lives have gone in different directions. But I have to still say thank you to Heather for being so nice to me then. Sadly, I may have been too young at the time to really know how long that memory would stay with me. For at the time it was just pie. But now it's pure gold...... to me.

And for the record? It's still the greatest pie in the world.