Story by Ammie Bryant

When I was growing up, my maternal grandmother always made noodles for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. These weren’t just any noodle and they definitely weren’t from a box either. They were big, thick egg noodles in an almost gravy-like broth. Some of my family members would scoop them on top of their mashed potatoes while I simply enjoyed them on the side where I could sop up some of that yummy broth with my turkey.

It was not until I was grown and working in a local history museum that I learned that Thanksgiving or Christmas noodles was a fairly unique regional tradition. I haven’t been able to pinpoint the research on why this is the case, but nevertheless it seems to be true. Throughout most of the rest of the country, you won’t find these delicious noodles as part of holiday meal traditions. Of course our world has grown smaller through the years and as families spread out and migrate to other places they take their family traditions with them; so Holiday noodles are not quite as regionally specific to Oklahoma as they were fifty or more years ago.

My almost 92-year-old grandmother doesn’t make the noodles anymore. Now one of my aunts is responsible for making it for each holiday meal. And no matter the occasion when I have them, I can’t help but think of our big family get-togethers for the holidays.