Christmas Cooking Archetype

341 Words2 Pages
As a little girl, Christmas was my favorite holiday. There was always a big meal and plenty of presents for everyone. After every Christmas dinner, my mother would wonder her way into the closest bedroom for a short snooze. “Mommy, let’s go open presents!” I would squeal. “My belly is too full to open presents. I need a nap,” she would reply. I would beg and beg, but her drowsiness would get the best of her. The presents always had to wait. Why is it that having a “full belly” is a reasonable cause for a nap? The answer lies deep in the recipes of Christmas dinner, deeper than the ingredients themselves. The most popular dish of the holidays is the big bird, the turkey. Turkey contains an amino acid called tryptophan. The body uses this amino