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Your Most Meaningful Family Tradition.

I love autumn. Leaves turn bright and the nights are chill enough for blankets. Tart, crunchy apples are in abundance and it's the season of pumpkin carving, of spooks and spaghetti.

Autumn is the time my husband's family observes a special tradition that our little boys and I have grown to love. Once a year, when my husband's brother makes the trek to Wisconsin to visit his family, we gather at my mother in laws for her famous spaghetti.

In groups we arrive and drift into the kitchen to "test" the sauce, and give the pot a stir. Always, someone will warn; "Don't scrape the bottom!" lest the protective layer of "well cooked" sauce is disturbed and taints the rest of the pot. Not a pleasant taste!

There is even a tradition within tradition, involving my husband's Dad. No one tells him it's spaghetti time. No one has to. Some sixth sense compels him to visit just in time for a plateful. For years now, even though he and Mom are separated, he always appears.

Spaghetti's ready! Our plates full, my children, husband and I crowd into the living room with the cousins, brothers, sisters, and various schnauzers. It's a treasured time, when finally we can all be together.

Learn more about this author, Lynn Schwalbe-Larson.
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