Families
have different traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas. Certain
foods are always on the menu for Christmas. Like at Thanksgiving, many families
also cook a turkey for the Christmas season. In Liz’s family their traditional
dish was boiled custard. In our family the traditional dish is ambrosia.
Ambrosia, in Greek mythology, is the food of the gods and Nectar is the drink
of the gods. Their food and drink was believed to give the Gods immortality.
Our dish called ambrosia is so named because
it is so delicious it is worthy of the name. There are dozens of dishes called
ambrosia, but for our family there is only one ambrosia. When I was a child and
a youth the ambrosia was made each year by my bachelor uncle, Roy Tom. When Roy
got to the place he could no longer get it together, I took up the mantle of
ambrosia maker using the same ingredients my uncle used: sectioned oranges,
crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries and coconut, sweetened to taste. So each
Christmas season I find myself at the kitchen sink peeling dozens of oranges
and mixing them with the other ingredients. I then take a portion of ambrosia
to each family gathering.
I don’t claim my ambrosia confers
immortality no matter how good it is. There is food, however, which does give
you immortality. Jesus said, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for
the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give
you,…” (John 6:27)
Grace
and peace.
