Traditions are hard to break, especially if the traditions are food related in an Italian household. We eat (at least) seven fish on Christmas Eve, pack some type of cheese into every dish, and more often than not, cook for 50 when there really might only be five people around the table. Or if you’re in my family, we roam the house because there are so many people that a table just won’t hold all of us. Easter is no exception, and if anything, it has more traditions linked to the table than any other holiday.

1. Pasta is not the main course.

Lasagna, pasta e fagioli, penne a la vodka – the list goes on to potential subsidiary courses with pasta as the focus. It’s an Italian tradition that pasta is served before the main course, and never, ever, is it served with bread. Bread is meant to sweep up any sauce left on the plate once the pasta is gone.

2. There are more conversations going on than people in the room.

You have no idea who you just passed the string beans to, and you don’t know who called your name. But you answer and in the meantime shout across to your cousin about his new car. It’s hectic, noisy, and somehow, we actually get to catch up with each other in all the turmoil of our conversations.

3. No dish is complete without cheese.

First course? Antipasto, which typically is a cured meat and cheese platter. Second? Pasta served with either ricotta or grated parmigiano reggiano. Even the main course – chicken, beef, lamb – would be stuffed with cheese or topped with grated cheese. And yes, desserts usually consist of ricotta and sugar for ricotta pies, cannoli filling, and zeppole. A traditional zeppole, or Italian donut, would just be fried dough without the Italian flare.

4. There’s never just one type of meat served.

The favorite in my family is braciole, prosciutto wrapped in a thin piece of beef. It makes a Turduken ashamed to have more than one type of meat.

5. Game time is a must.

We value family time and what could be better than playing a game of football out back, or Taboo around the table once the meal is over? Nothing! At least not to Italians, anyway.

6. No one knows why there are meatballs, but there are.

They’re essential! Why? We don’t know, but who cares, they taste good!

7. Coffee takes longer to finish than the four previous courses combined.

We don’t just have one cup of coffee. We slowly sip our hot java or cappuccino, if you really want to be authentic. Coffee and dessert stay out for hours. No one has to fret over prepping or checking on the next course – it’s time to relax.

8. Everyone stirs the sauce.

There isn’t a person in the house who doesn’t help in the kitchen. You wouldn’t be Italian if you didn’t try and re-season the marinara sauce while your brother is prepping the lamb. And when there are five courses to be served for two dozen people, there’s enough work to go around.

9. A “No, this is Mom’s recipe!” battle

Validating that you have the correct recipe for Grandma's cookies is always a prerogative of a family get-together. And well, it's almost impossible even when one person has the recipe written in Grandma's handwriting. Let's be honest though, no matter the recipe, Grandma's still tasted better.

10. The baby gets passed around.

They don’t have a seat, they have all of the seats. Everyone takes turns holding the baby and feeding it, most likely from their own plates.

11. Half the women respond to “Mary” or “Ann”, and most of them are actually named MaryAnn.

Every family has a few names that are special and continuously bestowed on the new generations. Nicknames are a great way to keep confusion levels down at the holidays and sometimes you really have to branch out with a nickname to avoid repetition. Just ask Cousin Sissy whose real name is Mary or Uncle Jimmy who’s actual name is Vincent.

12. Grace is said by one person in Italian and everyone else just mumbles along.

It’s like the song you know the sounds to but the words are not part of your vocabulary.

13. The Lasagna is just as high but much sturdier than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Seriously. It wouldn’t be homemade if it wasn’t.

14. There’s no such thing as a kids table.

Kids eat at the table just like adults and drink coffee with dessert just like adults. Although kids are usually served in Demi cups.

15. “Homemade” is code for “has been fermenting in basement for years”.

Homemade olives are cracked Sicilian olives that your aunts and uncles hit with a hammer a few years ago and have been sitting in a mason jar in the basement to age properly. It’s the same old story for the homemade wine, too. Although this may have the pleasure of fermenting in an actual wine bottle.

16. The men spend most of their time out on the driveway with cigars.

In the olden days, they sat on folding chairs. Today, it’s a wooden Adirondack chair, but they still have the cigars.

17. The headcount multiplies when the coffee starts to brew.

You thought finding a seat was difficult for dinner, wait until dessert rolls around and your family keeps coming out of the woodworks. They’re called extended family for a reason.

18. Everyone leaves with a few meals worth of food, wrapped in foil.

Cooking for 50 when you have a fraction of that around the table has its perks. Everyone takes home leftovers and the holiday food lasts the entire week.

19. The main course comes back out after dessert for sandwiches.

Dessert and coffee linger to the point of stomachs growling once more that day. Thus, the leftovers are sprung from the refrigerator to be made into sandwiches. Finally, an appropriate time for that bread to be eaten.

20. You’re introduced to a cousin you’ve never met before, and then his three siblings.

Italian families are large. Although you may not know your second cousin thrice removed, your mom grew up with his dad and that is exactly why he’s sitting across from you at dessert. Welcome to the family!

21. Your uncle always yells it’s too hot and strips down to his v-neck white t-shirt.

Enough said.

22. There are at least three stories that are always told at dinner, and everyone can recite them.

And for some reason, no one minds hearing them one more time. Let’s just hope next year you can add some more stories to the mix.

23. Dishes are named after family members you’ve probably never met.

Aunt Mary’s pizzelles, Grandma Russo’s Pot Cheese Pie, everyone had their own version of a dish. The favorites are the ones that made it into your family’s recipe box.

24. Plates aren’t private, they’re public.

Better eat your favorite foods first, because in an Italian household, mio piatto è il piatto. Forks often cross the boundary lines between place settings, whether it’s to snag the part of the salad the person next to doesn’t like or just to get the last cracked Sicilian olive you can find.