Thanksgiving Jello

At any family Thanksgiving table there is that one dish: more meaningful than edible, nostalgia eclipses flavor or form. For me this year it was Grammy's Christmas Salad.

My grandmother was a great cook. I'm sure this dish was not her superstar recipe, it must strike a fond note in my mother's strumming heart because she made it and then forced us all to have a huge jiggling slice.

The dish is a jello salad in all its colorful, cakepan mold glory. One layer is a subdued yellow, the banana layer. Next is the pastel green of the pistachio layer, a bit of crunch speckled in that level. Next is some grayish layer, a side effect of pureeing pineapple chunks or something of that nature. Crowning the masterpiece is the vibrant red jello crown, bejeweled with hunks of canned peach slices.

And as my mom passed around the phone to say hello to my grandmother (who has just entered a nursing home this year) you bet we were content to chew/gargle the gelatinous, holiday delicacy known as Christmas Salad.