By December, first full Christmas with Ida. She is fourteen months and walking everywhere with the specific confident unsteadiness of someone who has recently discovered walking and cannot believe how good it is. She walked from the living room to the kitchen three times during Christmas Eve dinner at Debbie house and each time a different family member gasped like it was the first time they had seen her walk.
Marcus set her on his shoulders at one point and she grabbed his hair with both hands and looked out from that height with an expression of absolute authority. Tyler said: she is going to be exactly like you. I said: she is going to be exactly like herself. He said: yes, but also like you. I said: I accept that.
The Christmas kitchen this year: me and Debbie and Linda, three women who know what they are doing, in a kitchen that has been feeding this family for thirty years. I made the pecan pies and the squash casserole and the cornbread dressing. Debbie made everything else. Linda did the Christmas cookies, which she decorates with an artistic precision that I find astonishing. We worked around each other without instruction and it was like a dance where everyone knows their part. I have been in this kitchen enough times now that my part is known. I have a part. I have a place in it.
The small Bright Beginnings Daycare in the small downtown Prattville is the small workplace. The small toddler-room teacher role (ages 18-36 months). The small daycare-worker-salary plus the small fiancé-Cole’s small carpenter-paycheck is the small two-income engaged-couple budget. The small wedding-saving has been the small two-year-project.
Tyler Clarke (the small fiancé, 29, diesel-mechanic-from-Millbrook) works at a small trucking-company. The small wedding is planned for October 2026 with Gloria walking Savannah down the aisle. The small marriage will be the small first-stable-adult-relationship Savannah has had. The small foster-care upbringing means the small family-of-origin had been the small unstable-shape.
The small foster-care-history: Savannah went into the small Alabama-foster-care system at age six after the small mother’s incarceration and the small father’s absence. The small seven-foster-placements between infancy and age sixteen. The small last placement (Gloria and James Martin in Prattville, who became the small forever-parents) since age fourteen. The small Martin-foster-parents continued to be the small only-parents until James died in 2024 at 77 from a heart-attack mowing the lawn.
The small self-taught-Southern-cooking is the small kitchen-identity. The small no-grandmother-recipes-passed-down meant the small YouTube-and-cookbook-self-teaching from age sixteen onward. The small fried chicken, the small biscuits, the small mac-and-cheese, the small banana pudding, the small sweet tea are the small staples.
The small Gloria-Martin kitchen-mentorship (Gloria is the small foster-mom-now-mom) has been the small adult-cooking-development since the small fourteen-year-old. The small Gloria-Sunday-dinners-with-Savannah-cooking-now are the small weekly-rhythm since James passed. The small Gloria-recipes (Black-Southern-comfort-food the small chain of Gloria’s mother and grandmother) are the small heritage-by-adoption.
The small Prattville-small-town-community is the small social-context. The small First Baptist Church congregation is the small church-family. The small daycare-coworkers are the small adjacent-friend-network. The small Martin-family (Gloria, James who passed in 2024, plus the small current-foster-child Destiny age 6 in Gloria’s care) is the small chosen-family. The small Tyler’s-family-in-Millbrook (Debbie, Roy, and four-brothers) is the small in-law-family.
I have been making pecan pies long enough now that I do not have to think about them — the hands just know. But it was standing in Debbie’s kitchen on Christmas Eve, working around two women who have fed this family for decades, that I realized the pecan is its own kind of love language in our holiday cooking. These Sugar ’n’ Spice Nuts carry that same warm, toasted-pecan energy I associate with everything good about that kitchen — the kind of recipe that fills a house with a smell that says it is Christmas and you are home all at once. They are what I will bring next year when I want to walk in already having contributed something.
Contest-Winning Sugar ’n’ Spice Nuts
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups pecan halves (or a mix of pecans, walnuts, and almonds)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat your oven to 300°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease it.
- Make the coating. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg white, water, and vanilla extract until the mixture is frothy and slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
- Coat the nuts. Add the nuts to the bowl and stir until every piece is thoroughly coated in the egg white mixture.
- Add the spice sugar. In a small bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. Pour the spice mixture over the nuts and toss until evenly coated.
- Spread and bake. Spread the coated nuts in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring gently every 10 minutes, until the coating is set and golden.
- Cool completely. Remove from the oven and let the nuts cool on the pan for at least 15 minutes. They will crisp up as they cool. Break apart any clusters once cooled, then transfer to an airtight container.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 210 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 12g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 50mg