Sunday, December 9, 2018

REMEMBERING A LIFE WELL LIVED



     This past couple of months I have been working to put together a finished family history project.  I keep telling myself I won’t live forever and in the end, I don’t want someone to stand before this lifetime of work and say to themselves, “What the hell are we going to do with all this?”  
     I remember a visit to the Spruance Library in Doylestown looking at family history projects and recognizing how boring it was to only read the “begots”.  The histories that I picked up and lingered over were the ones who took time to put a story behind the name, and so it set forth my own goal of creating a book for the family where you would be introduced to the “person” and not just a name and date.
     Along with this work, this past weekend it was Kieflies baking time…and a time to remember our Grammy Ford (Anna Poth Ford).  She would start at Halloween to bake these cookies that would melt in your mouth.  At Christmas, we would all get a tin of them to take home.  But if you took time to visit her anytime between Halloween and Christmas she would send you out the door with a small container letting you know that this is all you get until Christmas.  Only the next time you would come she would most often do the same thing.  As time went on I began to believe this was your reward for taking the time to visit her.
     Fifty-two years ago when I first came to this family, I remember seeing her for the first time.  It was September 1966 and I had come to Pennsylvania to visit the family I was about to marry into.  In a large boat-size car,  Uncle Ed driving and  Uncle Bob in the front seat and Grammy sitting in the back came to meet the young girl her grandson was introducing to the family.  It was all very regal in my mind.  Very dignified and straightforward, Grammy was always in a dress with nice earrings and jewelry.  To the day she died, I don’t believe I ever saw her in anything else.  Her hands would be crossed on her lap and she would sit and observe all that was around her.
     The family was most important to Grammy.  I learned that early on and in many lessons along the way.  No matter what happened in life, or what you did or didn’t do, you were always welcomed with an open smile, a hug, and a kiss, and when leaving she would follow you out the door and stand and wave goodbye until you drove out of sight.  Her unconditional love for her family was always present in everything she did and said.
     I learned many life lessons from her.  Although she longed to see her family often, schedules and life got in the way, but when you would visit her, it was always greeted with a sense of celebration that you were there.  Sitting at her table, having coffee, tea and whatever food she quickly prepared, would allow for hours of conversation, knowing in her heart that it may be a long time between visits and she wanted to soak it all in.  No TV, no radio, no cell phones…just wonderful conversations of sharing and catching up on life.  You were always made to feel welcome and loved.
     She became the most important person in my life.  I had a lot to learn about unconditional love and the meaning of family, so when things went haywire on my side of the family she was always my guiding light and calming influence.  She would encourage me to let go of the hurt and just love…a lesson I have learned stays with me until this day.  She also never offered up advice unless you asked, but when you asked you got her truth.  She pulled no punches.  She lived her life with dignity and grace thru all her 93 years.
     Gathering together to make Grammy’s Kieflies is an opportunity to remember and share in the stories of the family matriarch and her life well lived.

Here is Grammy Ford’s Kieflies recipe

(I had to sit one year and watch her as she never made these using a recipe…together we finally figured out the ingredients and although mine may never reach the level of delight of the ones she made, they provide an opportunity to remember an amazing woman!)

8 cups flour
8 egg yolks
1 lb lard
1 lb butter
1 pine sour cream
1 Tablespoon of yeast
1 lemon zest
1 juice of a lemon
Powdered sugar

Mix together flour and yeast.  Add lard and butter until cut together.  Then add sour cream, lemon zest, and lemon juice.   Chill overnight in the refrigerator.

Roll out crust until very thin.  Cut into 2 1/2 inch squares.
Fill with either nut filling, raspberry filling or apricot filling.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

After the cookie cools roll in powdered sugar.


(I want you to know I have tried to make these using Crisco or other substitutes but the flavor did not even come close to these as Grammy made them.  So with total abandon we indulge these once a year!)

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