“I think the most important thing to me about being alive is feeling in relationship to people and community and relationship to nourishment and the active care of myself and others,-Cornforth” --Zorah COhen, 11th Grade
When my mom, Kyle Cornforth, first started notes for Thanksgiving meals, she did not anticipate that it would become a 15 year tradition would go onto keep track of our family, life, and holiday meal. Since I was born, Thanksgiving has been one of the biggest holidays celebrated in my family. It tells the story of how our family has shifted and how our relationships have changed over time. Looking back at all the years, there are people that we aren't in a relationship with anymore and there are new people who join us, family who only comes sometimes, and family that's always there. Thanksgiving turkey was even the first meat I had ever had, after being raised vegetarian for the first years of my life. I can still remember that vividly in my head, maybe not the exact flavor but the feeling, and the excitement. My mom’s folder includes magazine recipe clippings, printed emails sharing family recipes, LOTS of Martha Staurt, grocery lists, to-do lists, the people who joined us, and more.
Cornforth first started her Thanksgiving folder in 2005, but her first time hosting Thanksgiving was in 1999 in Missoula Montana when she was 20 years old. She was living with her boyfriend, with whom she had moved to experience real winter, after being raised in California. Twenty people attended that first recorded Thanksgiving, with friends coming in from California, Colorado, and Idaho to join. Because the size of the group, people were given different jobs and foods to cook/bring to the meal. “By the end of the day we had this beautiful dinner and we all sat on the floor and I just felt like we had all contributed something to this beautiful meal that we had together,” Cornforth recalled. “It was snowing outside and it was just a really meaningful day because we were in community and we were around food and those are two of my favorite things.”
Although the folder started unintentionally, it's been a staple to our Thanksgiving since as long as I can remember. My mom is someone who likes to plan and document, and started her notes as a way to ease the stress of cooking such a large, important meal.
“I produced a lot of work the first year so I had recipes that I liked and I had a spreadsheet that I had made and I decided to just shove it in a folder. So then the next year when I was hosting, I had documented all that stuff and then I just kind of kept doing that every year and now I have like 15 years of thanksgivings in my folder,” said Cornforth. Although, as more and more of how we keep track of our life has become digital, the Thanksgiving folder has gone more online, starting around 2017.
Food has always been a huge part of my relationship with my mom, and therefore a huge part of my life. My mom, who has spent most of her adult life working with food, and working jobs centered around the importance of food and nourishment, always says that Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday.
“I think the most important thing to me about being alive is feeling in relationship to people and community and relationship to nourishment and the active care of myself and others,” she said. “We practice that with intention everyday as much as we can and on Thanksgiving we take the whole week to like, really slow down and do that in a very big way. I like the flavors, I like the smells, I like the day spent lounging in pajamas and cooking and playing games, I like the family walks, I like that everyone has sort of agreed implicitly to just chill and hang out with each other and not be distracted by work or school or anything else but being together, and I appreciate that time.”
This folder has been such a huge part of how I celebrate the holiday and how I remember my family through the years, the ways it has grown and the people that have left, the new ones who have joined. It's something I hope to continue for my own family, and something I hope to cherish and hold onto for the rest of my life.
Attached below are some of my favorite recipes!
Cornforth first started her Thanksgiving folder in 2005, but her first time hosting Thanksgiving was in 1999 in Missoula Montana when she was 20 years old. She was living with her boyfriend, with whom she had moved to experience real winter, after being raised in California. Twenty people attended that first recorded Thanksgiving, with friends coming in from California, Colorado, and Idaho to join. Because the size of the group, people were given different jobs and foods to cook/bring to the meal. “By the end of the day we had this beautiful dinner and we all sat on the floor and I just felt like we had all contributed something to this beautiful meal that we had together,” Cornforth recalled. “It was snowing outside and it was just a really meaningful day because we were in community and we were around food and those are two of my favorite things.”
Although the folder started unintentionally, it's been a staple to our Thanksgiving since as long as I can remember. My mom is someone who likes to plan and document, and started her notes as a way to ease the stress of cooking such a large, important meal.
“I produced a lot of work the first year so I had recipes that I liked and I had a spreadsheet that I had made and I decided to just shove it in a folder. So then the next year when I was hosting, I had documented all that stuff and then I just kind of kept doing that every year and now I have like 15 years of thanksgivings in my folder,” said Cornforth. Although, as more and more of how we keep track of our life has become digital, the Thanksgiving folder has gone more online, starting around 2017.
Food has always been a huge part of my relationship with my mom, and therefore a huge part of my life. My mom, who has spent most of her adult life working with food, and working jobs centered around the importance of food and nourishment, always says that Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday.
“I think the most important thing to me about being alive is feeling in relationship to people and community and relationship to nourishment and the active care of myself and others,” she said. “We practice that with intention everyday as much as we can and on Thanksgiving we take the whole week to like, really slow down and do that in a very big way. I like the flavors, I like the smells, I like the day spent lounging in pajamas and cooking and playing games, I like the family walks, I like that everyone has sort of agreed implicitly to just chill and hang out with each other and not be distracted by work or school or anything else but being together, and I appreciate that time.”
This folder has been such a huge part of how I celebrate the holiday and how I remember my family through the years, the ways it has grown and the people that have left, the new ones who have joined. It's something I hope to continue for my own family, and something I hope to cherish and hold onto for the rest of my life.
Attached below are some of my favorite recipes!
