For as long as I can remember, perhaps before birth, it has always been on the table at Thanksgiving, and at Christmas too when my mother hosted it at her house. There have been many altercations surrounding the green jello. One time, the pan was dropped, and it became a gelatinous mess. One time, I saved the last piece of green jello and marked it as my own. My brother, who refuses to be named, ate it. Boy was I pissed. Why? This isn't just regular old green jello. This is jello with cream cheese and fruit and nuts, and it is good. 

This year, there was debate. An almost scandalous debate. My very own dear, sweet mother actually suggested choosing between the green jello and the traditional fruit salad. GASP! Is dementia starting early? Has she lost her mind? I told her she better call my brother, formerly-known-as-Prince. It's his favorite. I did not ask about the outcome. It was just too frightening. 

On the plane this morning, I wondered if the green jello would be on the table when I got here. Then I got to thinking... is green jello a salad, a dessert, or a snack? If it happens to be there, and I write about it, how am I to tag it? And why do Southerners think jello is a salad anyway? Even though it is green, that does not make a green. Sometimes I find this culture of mine very odd. 

Not all of these questions were answered upon arrival to my parents' home, but many were. Yes. My mother had not let us down. We had fruit salad and green jello. As a twist on tradition it was in a different pan (pyrex as opposed to the old, banged up 9" x 12" metal pan she used to use). How original! You have to use a big pan because Jello no longer makes the appropriate flavor anymore and you mix 2 packages. As we all dug into the strangely colored concoction, the question of how to classify this dish arose. The un-named brother, who is brilliant and has a gift for words, claimed that my mother's green jello is a "dessert salad". Interesting. A new category. He then went on to extol the virtues of the WWII packaged food revolution, of which Jello branded products are a part. The company hired scores of women to create these types of "dessert salads" to promote the product. That explains why my friend Jenny has a beautifully illustrated Jello mold cookbook from the '50's. It's one of my favorite items in her kitchen. 

Mom went on to tell us that she got the recipe from a friend in Raeford, NC, where they lived from '62-'67. When she got the recipe out for me, it was so old that it had been typed in her book on an old-fashioned typewriter! The real name, we discovered, was Jello Lemon-Lime Salad. That answers that. The category is in the name. Brilliant! I suppose we should have looked there first. My mother's mother, she said, had a similar recipe that called for cottage cheese instead of cream cheese. I think I heard a hint - no... more than a hint and perhaps a touch of a cackle - in her voice when my mother said her own green jello was better. I have no idea, but every year at Thanksgiving, it's made the cut and is on the table. And like I said, this almost neon "salad" is worth every bite. 

Here's to a holiday tradition, from my family to yours. 

Stir vinegar into cream cheese until it starts to break apart. Combine both packs of jello and mix with 2 cups hot water. Let the jello thicken slightly, then add in the cream cheese. Add in the fruit and nuts and pour it in the pan. Chill, slice and serve.