It’s time to get out my trusty Thanksgiving folder and start organizing this year’s Thanksgiving celebration. My worn manila folder is a treasure full of memories of Thanksgivings past: menus, recipes, shopping lists, decoration ideas, guest lists, timetables, and notes about what worked and what didn’t.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday to host. I love bringing my family together to celebrate. I enjoy the planning and the preparation. And since everyone requests the same traditional foods every year, I’ve gotten the holiday meal down to a comfortable routine.

I hosted my first Thanksgiving in 1980. I was a young mom living in Southern California with my husband and our two children. All our family lived in San Francisco, so my two grandmas, my parents, my in-laws, and my two brothers all flew down for the big event.

I researched recipes and read tips on turkey preparation for novice cooks. I also knew I could count on my mother and grandmothers to offer their wisdom on the day of the feast. I set the table with all my best china, silver and crystal—wedding gifts that were taken out only for special occasions. On the day before Thanksgiving, I made a batch of challah dough and braided 20 individual dinner rolls. My mom and two grandmas kept me company polishing silver and folding napkins. After that dinner, my braided rolls were legendary. My grandmother never stopped raving to all of her friends about them. Though the rolls were a show-stopper, in an effort to simplify, I stopped making them after a few years.

One enduring family favorite on our Thanksgiving menu is “Grapefruit-topped Sweet Potatoes.” My mom found the recipe in a Sunset magazine and I still have the original pasted in my recipe binder. Grapefruit sections bake on top of the spicy mashed sweet potatoes with a melted butter and brown sugar glaze that melds all the flavors into a tasty dish that pleases everyone.

Our after-dinner activities have varied over the years. We’ve reminisced about Thanksgivings past and played board games, like Pictionary and Yahtzee. We made stamp art cards to send to my daughter, the year she was studying in Bristol, England. But my favorite Thanksgiving ritual started in 1999, when I found a creative way to have everyone say something they were grateful for.

My husband cut maple leaves out of yellow, brown, and orange construction paper and put one at each person’s place. Before dinner I asked everyone to write something they were grateful for on the leaf. Then I collected all the leaves in a basket and put them away until we were finished with dinner. After the dishes were cleared, I brought out the basket and let everyone pick one leaf—not their own—to read out loud. We had so much fun laughing and trying to guess who wrote which leaf.

I still have all the leaves in my manila folder. Reading them now, the handwritten words of gratitude bring back sweet memories—especially the ones written by departed family members. I’m so grateful for all these Thanksgiving memories I’ve celebrated with my family.

Grapefruit-topped Sweet Potatoes

• 2 lbs. sweet potatoes*
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup light cream or milk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp. each nutmeg and cinnamon
• 4 Tbs. melted butter
• 2 medium grapefruit
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Steam the potatoes until tender. Then peel and mash until smooth. (You should have about 3 cups.) Beat in the egg, cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and 2 tbs. butter. Spoon potato mixture into a greased shallow 1 1/2 quart casserole. Cool, cover, and chill if done ahead.

Cut skin and all white membrane from grapefruit; carefully cut out sections and arrange them on top of the potatoes. Pour the remaining butter evenly over top and sprinkle evenly with the sugar.

Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven until heated through, about 25 minutes.

Serves 8 generous portions

* You can substitute 1 large can and 1 small can of cooked yams.

Family celebrations have always played a significant role in my life. When I was growing up, my mom made a big deal over birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries. As a mother, I continued the traditions for my daughter and son when they were growing up. Five years ago, as my granddaughter, Juliet, approached her first birthday, my daughter called to ask for some ideas on how to celebrate this milestone.

I suggested we create a time capsule and ask everyone in the family to contribute something to put inside. My daughter and son-in-law loved the idea and decided to seal up the time capsule until Juliet’s 13th birthday.

Creating a time capsule is a great way to involve the entire family in the celebration. Start by asking everyone to bring an item that represents something to them and to include a note explaining what it means to them. The note of explanation will help the child understand the contents and put the item in context when the time capsule is eventually opened.

Items can be homemade, purchased or found and can include:

• Old family photos
• Mementos
• Newspaper clippings of events and trends of the child’s birth year
• Radio and video recordings
• Coins, receipts

I contributed the following items to our time capsule:

• A letter to Juliet sharing my feelings and memories of her first year
• A photo collection of “first impressions” from her first year called My First Year of Firsts, that included meeting family members, celebrating holidays, eating solid food, and wearing a party dress

Each person showed her contribution and read her note before placing it into the time capsule. After our celebration, my son-in-law sealed all the treasures in a five-gallon paint bucket and put it away, not to be opened until 2016.

The year 2016 seemed like such a long way off when we sealed the time capsule in 2004. Now that we’re already half way there, I can actually imagine standing beside Juliet when she opens her precious time capsule.

I can’t wait to see the look on her face as we all wish her a Happy 13th Birthday, hand her the time capsule, and watch her go through the treasures!

It is the business of grandparents to create memories and the relative of memories: traditions…Ellen Goodman

My grandma friend, Kathleen, put these words into practice by creating memories for her granddaughters and passing on her tradition of spending summers camping in nature.

A few weeks ago Kathleen sent me one of her enthusiastic emails: “I’m off to White Wolf Lodge with Bridget, 4, and Cate, almost 6, for 3 days. We’ll sleep in a tent cabin and enjoy the High Country in Yosemite all along Tioga Road. Hiking and outdoor exploring here we come!!!“

Camping with two little girls seemed like quite an undertaking for a grandma, but Kathleen has been camping since she was a “wee child growing up in Ireland.” During childhood summers, Kathleen’s parents took her and her two brothers camping every weekend. “We lived like gypsies, shopping at local farms for fresh food and sleeping in a tent,” she tells me in her beautiful Irish lilt.

As a single mom, Kathleen often took her two daughters hiking and camping, instilling in them a love of nature. She now has five granddaughters. She decided to give the two youngest their first wilderness adventure this summer. She packed plenty of snacks, games, and coloring books for the five-hour drive to Yosemite. Mother Nature supplied the rest of the entertainment. Kathleen brought along her friend, Wendy, who cannot hike but is playful like Kathleen. During the ride they took turns singing to the girls and telling them stories.

They stopped at Groveland for a picnic lunch and arrived at their tent cabin with plenty of time left to explore. Kathleen gave the girls their first rock-climbing lesson near their campsite. It was the first time the two little sisters had slept in a tent without electricity or heat, but they were cozy in their double bed. They lit a stove in the chilly morning and ate breakfast under trees in the sunshine.

They were the first to arrive at Tenaya Lake one morning and had the beach to themselves. The girls made “stoup,” a stew/soup made of mud, sand, dirt, sticks and stones. That evening they had a bear scare when they heard the park rangers shouting at a bear in their campgrounds. The rangers set off a flare to scare him away. Kathleen gave her granddaughters a flashlight to keep them from feeling scared. On their way home they stopped at another campsite and discovered a fallen tree. Kathleen proudly told me the girls had their first tree crossing over a stream. The two sisters got along beautifully and never asked for their mother. As they prepared to leave, the girls’ eyes got big and they told their grandmother they could live there forever.

These two little girls are certainly blessed to have such an adventurous grandmother. What wonderful memories she has created for them. It’s also a testament to the trust she has built with their mother. Kathleen joked that the only request her daughter made was: “Mommy please don’t leave them alone for even a minute.” The moment she returned Kathleen went straight to Walgreen’s with her camera and made a photo book for each granddaughter.

Kathleen’s advice to other grandmas: just do it!