Happy Thanksgiving

I sure hope that everyone has had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. Ours went well, for the most part. Since we just did this whole "meal" thing on Sunday for Ted's family, today was just an encore. Other than my immediate family being driven crazy by me, getting everything ready, the day really did go well. The food was great and it was so nice being with the extended family.

The snow never materialized, but that's okay. It's a little too early in the season for accumulating snow.

If anyone left here hungry, then it was their own fault, because there was PLENTY of food! I had so much help in the kitchen after people got here, that there was hardly anything left for me to do. And then after dinner...wow, is all I can say! Everyone pitched in to help rinse the dishes and load the dishwasher, then wash and dry and put away all the things that either wouldn't fit in the dishwasher OR couldn't go in.

Now as far as tomorrow is concerned, I really don't think I'll be heading out to do any shopping. I'm not a shopper, first of all. Secondly, if I DID enjoy shopping, I don't know that I would want to be around all those people! Some stores are opening up at FOUR A.M., yes 4:00 A.M. I do NOT plan on being one of the people waiting in line for the door to open. At that time, I plan on being sound asleep.

Although...one of my cousins has a GPS unit and he brought it in to show us. It was quite interesting, and I've been thinking about one on and off for a while now. I just wasn't too sure about how they worked. After he explained it, and showed us how simple it was, I recalled that I had seen one in an ad and it will be on sale at a very reasonable price tomorrow morning. Sigh. Gee, I need to think about this.

I'm really hoping that we can get our outside decorations up tomorrow, but we'll have to see how things go. Ted is taking the day off, so that might be a plus. I just know that I am certainly going to enjoy not going to school for the next 4 days!

Thanksgiving 1950

I was not around in 1950, but my mom was. She has told us about this particular Thanksgiving holiday several times over the years and it still intrigues me.

My grandma grew up in a very small community in western Pennsylvania. It's where her family settled when they came over from Italy. In this community they STILL go to the post office every day to get their mail! They only got actual addresses a few years ago when they finally became part of the "9-1-1" system. When I send Christmas cards to the family there, it's still "P.O. Box 7" and their town.

Anyway, back in 1950 my mom was in her first year of nursing school, but they were given a few days off at Thanksgiving. My grandparents, along with my mom, aunt, and uncle were going back to Pennsylvania for the holiday. They had a car, so that made the journey much easier than it could have been, although it still took several hours to get there.

Back in 1950, Doppler Radar was a part of technology in the far distant future, so they really didn't know that there was a snowstorm coming in, or if they did know, they had no clue as to how bad it was going to be.

After they got to PA on Wednesday evening and were all settled in with the family, preparations for the feast began. At some point on Thanksgiving Day it began to snow...

and snow...

and snow...

and snow.

When everyone woke up on Friday morning, it was clear that no one was going to be leaving to go anywhere that day. There were a bunch of people in one small house, as it was a typical holiday in which everyone was together. Since no one had predicted a snowstorm was en route, they were really not prepared for it. Fortunately there was enough food in the house, so that wasn't a problem.

However, they didn't have an indoor bathroom at my great-grandparents' house...in fact NO ONE in that area of Pennsylvania had an indoor bathroom!

And there was only ONE pair of boots at the house. New boots had not been purchased for the upcoming winter season yet.

Apparently with so many people in the house, they had to be very patient and wait their turn for the boots to go to the OUTHOUSE in the back! But that was only after they somehow created a path to actually get there.

By Saturday my mom was starting to panic a little. There was absolutely NO let-up in the snowstorm, and she needed to be back to Akron on Monday for nursing school. There were NO EXCEPTIONS in nursing school. Grandpa had to be back at work on Monday too.

Sunday was the same as Saturday, except that the panic level was a little higher. Mom wanted to get to a telephone to call the hospital where the nursing school was, to let them know where she was and that she would be back as soon as she could.

Again, with technology not being quite what it is today, the few phone lines that were in existence were down due to the weather, so she wasn't able to make that call. On Monday, mom and Grandpa set out for the train station, walking through the snow drifts and STILL FALLING snow, only to be told that the trains were all canceled.

It snowed from Thanksgiving Day (November 23) until the following Tuesday (November 28).

Later in the week, they set out again, and this time they were lucky and the trains were running again. Just because the snow had finally stopped falling did NOT mean that things were all clear! The roads and tracks were still a huge mess and had to be dealt with. Grandpa and mom FINALLY were able to make it home after over 12 hours on a train, and mom finally got back to nursing school with NO repercussions, thank goodness.

Several days later, after roads were finally cleared, Grandma was able to drive the car home with the other two kids, my aunt and uncle.

If something like that happened today...well, let's just say that we would be totally prepared for it in every way possible. I like snow...but not driving in it or shoveling it.

And this Thanksgiving?? According to Dick Goddard (our Cleveland weather guru) we're supposed to have rain....that will turn to SNOW!

Thanksgiving Memories

When I was young, we always went to my grandparents' (my mom's parents) for the holiday. It was a typical holiday in that there were aunts, uncles, and cousins there, and we all sat at a table that was just a little too small for all of us. Eventually as other cousins were born, we had the proverbial "kids" table and the "adults" table and that helped. Of course since I was the oldest grandchild, I usually got to sit at the "adults" table. Wow, I was definitely privileged!

As we walked into their house, the aromas of the turkey, dressing, pies, and everything else would just fill us up. To this day when I smell turkey cooking, I get melancholy, thinking of my grandma. Grandma outdid herself.

She would make at least 10 pies and what wasn't eaten on that day would go home with everyone. At the end of the day when we left, each family had a big banana box with pies, leftover turkey, dressing, rolls, and......

This is the good part....

If grandma found a "good" stewing chicken at the meat market, she would make wedding soup, and she made a TON of it!

So....if there was a good stewing chicken within a 30 mile radius (I never could get the definition of "good" out of her), then each family would also take home wedding soup!

For those of you who have never had homemade wedding soup, OH WOW...you don't know what you're missing! I'll share the recipe sometime.

Thanksgiving was quite a feast, and it was always fun seeing the rest of the family.

One year when I was in high school, Thanksgiving ended up being at our house somehow. I wish I could recall the circumstances, but I just can't. I guess I should ask my mom. I woke up early that morning and heard her out in the kitchen, talking to the turkey. Yes, I said TALKING to the turkey. She called him "Tom" and I heard her telling "him" to bend his wings and to keep his legs open so she could get the stuffing inside. I knew it was in my best interest to just stay out of the kitchen and let her do her thing. In fact, I'm sure my dad heard her, as well as my brother and we all must have had the same idea, because as soon as we heard her finally get the turkey IN the oven, we all got up.

She did a great job with it because everything tasted wonderful!

There were a few times after Ted and I were married that we hosted Thanksgiving, and by then mom had gone back to nursing and was working that day. HOWEVER, she would show up at our house on her way to work and around 5:30 AM we would start working on the turkey together. I felt so bad for her, having to do all that, then go to work, but she insisted. After work, she would come over and get to eat and see everyone, but still it made for a long, tiring day for her.

I'll share a few more memories soon.

My Favorite Holiday

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. This is my favorite holiday. I know I've mentioned it before, but that's okay. I'm saying it again.

THANKSGIVING IS MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY!

This is a holiday in which families get together and eat and talk and eat and lay around and eat and do very little of anything else. There are no gifts involved, so we're not trying to find the perfect present. All that's really required is that you create a good meal.

Uh oh. Yep, there's that cooking thing again.

It's okay....I can handle it nowadays. There were times when I couldn't, but I can now. In fact... I can handle it SO darn well that we're going to do it TWICE THIS YEAR!!

This Sunday we'll be having Ted's family here for Thanksgiving. Yes, I realize that his family is my family and my family is his family, but this is just an easy way to describe it without going into a class on family genealogy.

I came up with this idea last year, for all of us to get together the Sunday before the "real" Thanksgiving since we would all be going to the "other" side of the family's get togethers on Thanksgiving Day. It went over very well, and everyone seemed to have a good time, so I decided that I would venture down the same path again this year. The turkey is in the refrigerator thawing slowly as I type. There will be about 12 of us, so that won't be too bad.

On Thanksgiving Day we will be having my family here to celebrate and I'll get to cook again. I really don't mind because Ted helps. Alex will help too, but with complaints. Joey will also help some, but with an attitude. That's okay though...it's all worth it. There will be 12-13 of us again that day.

Thanksgiving hasn't always been my favorite holiday. As a child, of course it was Christmas, but not just because we got a lot of presents, but mostly because we got to see some relatives that we didn't normally see all the time. After getting married, I still wasn't a huge fan of Thanksgiving, but then somewhere around the time Joey was born, it started to hit me...this isn't too bad.

I have a couple more Thanksgiving stories to share over the next week, but for now let's just say that it's time to bring out the pots and pans and have a wonderful time!