I think every year at Christmas I will post this touching story from last year…
I met a very nice lady at the bakery on Christmas Eve who had come for a corn rye for Christmas. When we told her we did not have one, she became very upset. She proclaimed she HAD to have one, for her brother had come in from another state, and they HAD to share a corn rye.
I thought to myself since it meant so much to her I would have them made on the day after Christmas, and she said her brother would be in the Woodlands then (about 45 minute ride to the north of us), and I would deliver it to her brother. When I made the suggestion about the day after Christmas, she said “No, he’ll be with another family by then, and we HAVE to have it on Christmas TOGETHER.” When her eyes became filled with tears, I could see this corn rye meant a great deal to her, so I asked if I could look in our freezer for one, and she nodded her head yes.
PLEASE LET THERE BE A CORN RYE!
As I’m walking back to the back bread freezer where we keep the bread we normally donate to the homeless, I’m thinking to myself if there is a Christmas spirit there will be a corn rye for this woman, for I know we NEVER have frozen corn rye. Well there is a G-d, for there was ONE corn rye, and it was even a large one.
I went back to the counter with the corn rye, and this woman began to cry. You see her mother had passed away since last Christmas and this Christmas was the first for her and her brother without their mother. Their mother apparently always had our corn rye on Christmas for the family, and it was a family tradition. So this corn rye represented to this woman her mother, and it was her family’s way of making sure Mom was there with them to celebrate this holiday.
FAMILY TRADITIONS
Remember in a previous blog I asked about your family’s traditions? Well now this is her family’s tradition, and I will always make sure we make corn rye on Christmas in memory and in honor of this lady’s very special mother who created some very special memories for her family.
I think every baker loves to believe we have the best baked goods on this earth, but knowing we helped to create sweet memories and a family tradition to be passed down from generation to generation is probably one of the greatest compliments we could have ever been given.
To my corn rye lady: Merry Christmas and know your mother will always be with you…
Happy holidays, Merry Christmas and good health to all of our customers, friends, family and readers.
Wishing you the sweetest of memories,
Janice, Bobby and Aunt Estelle Jucker and the Three Brothers Bakery Families