Dahleen Glanton: The quest to reconstruct the best family holiday recipes that were never written down, thought to be lost forever

For many of us, one of the most cherished memories of growing up was sitting down as a family and enjoying holiday dinners. Thanksgiving and Christmas were my mother's and my aunts' time to shine. And they knew how to put on a show.

These women took pride in showing off their cooking skills, and each of them had a specialty. It is likely they were highly competitive, but my mother, Annie Ruth, and her three sisters-in-law would never admit that