Today, I'm reposting a Thanksgiving post from 2009. This is still how I feel about Thanksgiving, and as I get older, the memories are even more precious to me than they have ever been!
I've been thinking about Thanksgiving today as it is just around the corner. When I think about Thanksgiving, I think about my grandparent's home, you know the house, you've seen it lots of times . . . over the river and through the woods . . . That's the one alright! My grandparents weren't rich, they didn't have a big house or even very much room for a big crowd, but somehow we all fit and it was always filled with love. There were seven in my family, plus all of my aunts and uncles and their children - we were a sizable group. I can remember my aunts, my grandma and my mother all crowded into grandma' small kitchen fixing dinner, making sure everything was just right. I remember the sound of potatoes being peeled, a big bowl of stuffing being stirred and tasted, the smell of brown sugar and marshmallows, dishes clinking in the sink, big white flour sack towels draped over shoulders and colorful aprons tied around waists. Sometimes, I would sneak into the kitchen, just to see what they were doing and take in the sights and smells - I was always ushered out almost as fast as I came in because there were babies and toddlers to babysit and keep happy, that was me and my sisters job! The smell of turkey roasting in the oven, potatoes boiling and rolls raising was an overwhelmingly yummy smell! My grandmother was a wonderful cook and everything she made felt like it had cream and butter in it. I later, I found out that they really did! Grandma loved to cream the vegetables and put an extra pat of butter in everything. She also liked everything to be extra sweet - she even put extra sugar in Jello! Today, when I make her cranberry Jello recipe that she loved so much, I always add the extra sugar. One of our favorite dishes at Thanksgiving was creamed corn. For this dish, she only used frozen corn that she put up herself, Just before it was done cooking, she would add an 8 oz. block of cream cheese, a little cream and salt and pepper - this is something we still always have for Thanksgiving. Some might think it's strange, but it's comfort food to me, we still make it this way. Grandma's rolls were always on the table and they were the best rolls I have ever eaten! Grandma loved to make bread, I don't remember ever eating store bought bread in her home. Grandma taught me how to make bread when I was a young girl, she said you will know when you've kneaded it enough, because it will be as soft as a baby's bottom. That's still how I know when my bread has been sufficiently kneaded. Her secret was always an extra little pinch of salt.
A turkey roasted to perfection, creamy mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed corn, homemade cranberry sauce, sweet pickles, pickled beets, black olives to put on fingers and green olives with pimento, homemade stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry salad, perfect homemade rolls, pumpkin pie and mince meat pie - these are the wonderful dishes I remember at Thanksgiving. We would, of course, eat til' we were stuffed, then we would help clear up the table, bringing all the leftovers into the kitchen to be divided and sent home with each family. Then the hustle and bustle and chitter-chatter in the kitchen would start all over again. All the women would put their aprons back on, and fill the sink with hot sudsy water...always more than once. Clean dish towels and dishcloths were taken out of the drawer and before you knew it, the kitchen was clean. My sisters and I would get to help with the dishes, and it was so much fun! I remember my grandma had a little spot, right next to her oven, that had a little pull-out towel rack where we would put the wet dish towels to dry before going into the laundry basket. I remember we were always sent home with containers of leftovers, especially turkey so we could make a turkey sandwich when we got home that evening . . . my father's favorite part of Thanksgiving! So many cherished memories that I have tucked away in a special place in my heart!
I loved my grandmother's house - I loved the way that you had to go down a little step to get into the living room from the kitchen. I loved her big bathtub and bathroom painted pink. I loved the way that the refrigerator was not in the kitchen, but on the back porch. But most of all, I loved the way that I felt when I was there - so much love . . . how wonderful it would be to go back in time? I hope that this Thanksgiving, no matter where we are, we will feel that same kind of love. I pray that my children and grandchildren will know how much they are loved. I hope that someday, my family will look back at Thanksgiving and have that same desire to recreate what they remembered as a child on Thanksgiving Day. There have been a lot of wonderful Thanksgiving dinners since the time I was a child - but I will always remember the Thanksgivings at Grandma and Grandpa Howard's house . . . today, I miss my grandma and grandpa, and I am so thankful and grateful for the memories they made with me. But most of all, I'm grateful for the wonderful influence they were in my life and the unconditional love that they gave me!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
