Shakin' the Family Tree

I'm fixin' to meet one of my Burris cousins to bounce around some planning ideas for the 2016 Burris Family Reunion. So my mind has naturally been on those reunions of my childhood, more accurately known to all as Decoration Day at St. Joe Freewill Baptist Church cemetery, outside Atkins, AR. It was always on Mother's Day, which annoyed some of the mothers who had married in to the family.

The food. Oh. The food. That's mostly what I remember, because as a kid, table after table after makeshift table, groaning with food, was very impressive.

I am a Southern, born and bred. Most all we Burrises are. So it's interesting to me that I had a conversation this past week with a transplanted Yankee who asked me how my family said pecan pie.



Did we say pe-KAHN or PEE-can?

Neither.

In my family, we called it Karo nut pie, and there were always a few of those at Decoration Day, each nestled under a dome made of screen door wire with what looked suspiciously like a drawer pull affixed to the top. To keep the flies off, don't you know...

In my family, the old timers drank two kinds of soft drinks. Root beer, and Co-Cola.

Because you saved the Orange Crush for making ice cream...

I think maybe I'll dig out Grandma Burris' recipe for cream pie, and make a chocolate one for the reunion.

The journey is good, and the memories rich...