Our Annual Celebration of Grandma Elsie & Her Famous #PumpkinChiffonPie Recipe

It's that time of year again – the holidays are fast approaching and as many of you know, the season kicks off with my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving. While one of the many reasons I look forward to Thanksgiving is because it’s the season of Grandma Elsie’s Famous Pumpkin Chiffon Pie and other crowd-favorite recipes, this year, Thanksgiving is special for another reason.

We’ve had a tough year. And during times of challenge it's not always easy to consider what we have to be thankful for, especially after a year like this one.

But more than ever, I’ve spent time being grateful for what matters most: my family, extra time with my children (even through the challenges that come with us all working and schooling from home!), our health and my team at The Grossman Group.

As a firm, we celebrated our 20th anniversary year. We’re grateful to have the opportunity to support our client partners during the many defining moments 2020 has presented, from the pandemic and social unrest to driving diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.

Despite the challenges we’ve all faced, it brings us such joy to help organizations connect with their people in new and meaningful ways, and to facilitate some tough, but critically important conversations on the difficult subjects people are grappling with in their work and personal lives.

Coming Together for the Holidays

As the holidays approach, I find myself even more excited about time together with loved ones, homecooked meals and new recipes. If you’re like me, you’ve probably found yourself getting more acquainted with your kitchen in recent months, and the task of making Thanksgiving dinner feels less daunting than in years past!

For those of you who don't know the story behind Grandma Elsie and her famous Pumpkin Chiffon Pie (which is the best I’ve ever tasted), I'd like to share it. (For those of you who do, I hope you'll indulge me in a retelling to honor the woman whose generous spirit and tradition are behind the pies.)

Grandma Elsie and Her Special Tradition

Instead of getting holiday gifts for friends and neighbors, Elsie Edelstein, who I adopted as my grandmother, made pumpkin pies and hand-delivered them before Thanksgiving. The blessing, as she used to say, was in the making (“food brings people together”) and in giving ("it’s better to give than receive!”).

A tradition that started with one creative and thoughtful woman was quickly adopted by her daughters and grandchildren, along with friends and neighbors.

And these aren’t any old pies.

These are the most delicious, mouth-watering pumpkin pies you’ve ever had. Even people who don’t like pumpkin pies love her now-famous recipe (and you can, too!). So no excuses – get out your grocery list and take down the ingredients to make Grandma Elsie's unforgettable pies. You'll find the recipe here.

Grandma Elsie's Tradition is Celebrated at The Grossman Group 

For almost two decades, The Grossman Group has adopted her wonderful tradition by sharing in her sentiments with friends and colleagues in our network by passing along Elsie’s famous pie and spice mix recipes.

You know it’s a special tradition when clients call in early November wondering whether the agency is celebrating Grandma Elsie, and if there's a new recipe this year.

The Famous Recipes

We also have some delicious extensions to Grandma Elsie's reach, which were suggested to us by a colleague, Brad Whitworth, and his wife, Peg Champion. It turns out that Grandma Elsie’s Famous Spices isn't just a must-have for pies.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing some of those recipes (including a new one!) on the blog, so stay tuned!

We hope you'll enjoy them.

Grandma Elsie, here’s to you! Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving season.

—David Grossman

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This article originally appeared on the leadercommunicator blog.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: David Grossman helps leaders drive productivity and get the results they want through authentic and courageous leadership communication. He’s a sought-after speaker and advisor to Fortune 500 leaders. A three-time author, David is CEO of The Grossman Group, an award-winning Chicago-based strategic leadership development and internal communication consultancy; clients include: Abbott Laboratories, Amazon, Amsted Industries, Hillrom, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, McDonald’s, Microsoft, and Sage Therapeutics, among others.

Among recent communication and leadership accolades, his leadercommunicator blog was named the #1 Blog on Communication by Feedspot four years in a row.

Click these links to follow him on Twitter @ThoughtPartner and Facebook and to connect on LinkedIn.