The Christmas Ham

Tommy was at a family Christmas reunion one year, and everyone was happy and cheery.

Tommy and his mother were together in the kitchen and his mom was hard at work. When Tommy noticed something strange...

After his Mom had thawed out the Christmas ham, his mom got out TWO pans. She cut the Christmas ham in half, placed each half in one of the pans, then baked one. Then once it was done, she baked the other.

Tommy tugged on his mom’s shirt, "Mom, when you cook the Christmas ham, why do you cut it in half and bake it each half in a different pan?", he asked. "Couldn't you just reuse the same pan, why dirty another dish?", he thought to himself...

His mother looked at him puzzled. "I don't know Tommy, I guess that's just the way grandma taught me... Why don't you go ask her?", she said.

Tommy headed off into the living room to where Granny was sitting. He tapped on granny's rocking chair until his grandma noticed him. “Granny, when Mom cooks the Christmas ham, why does she cut it in half and bake it each half in a separate pan? Mom doesn't know and she told me to ask you.”, he asked.

“Well Tommy, I guess that's just how my mom taught me to do it, and so that's how I taught your mom, why don't you ask your great grandma, she's upstairs laying down in bed.”, grandma answered.

Tommy crawled up the steps and tip toed into great grandma's room. “Great grandma”, Tommy whispered. “Yes dear.” she replied. “Well... Grandma, I have a question for you and nobody else seems to know the answer. You see... when Mom cooks the Christmas ham every year, she cuts it in half and bakes each half in a separate pan. When I asked her why she cuts it in half instead of baking it whole. She told me that grandma taught her to do it that way, and grandma told me to ask you. So why is it grandma, why does mom use two pans?”

Great grandma leaned over toward Tommy and said, “Well dear, I suppose I just never had an oven big enough.”