Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  What’s not to like about a toasty kitchen filled with the wonderful smells of roasting turkey, family gathered and everyone catching up on the latest news and enjoying time together.  

Easter would be another favorite if it wasn’t for the Easter bunny thing with baskets and candy and now, of course, toys.  When did Easter become a holiday for toys?   I can’t figure out the connection between a religious celebration and super soakers.

Let’s talk turkey.  When I was little, my sister and I were in charge of tearing up the bread for the dressing.  I was little so I sat on the counter grabbing handfuls of day old bread and ripping it into small pieces.  My sister got to do big kid stuff like chopping and stirring.  Mom always had a nice turkey with all the trimmings and  gravy to die for.   It was just our small family but it was good.  

The torch was passed to me sometime when my kids were small and we added Aunt Esther and Uncle Elmer and cousins for the Thanksgiving feast.  It was  turned into a festive occasion with several tables spread around the family room. My daughter,Tricia, held up the tradition and tore up the bread for dressing and even made fancy place setting name tags for the tables.  Son, Greg did the guy thing, playing with matches to light the candles.

Aunt Esther couldn’t have Thanksgiving dinner without her special rolls, she claimed the recipe came from a great aunt that brought it from Sweden.  These are made with yeast dough, allowed to rise on the warm stove, divided and rolled out with a rolling pin and cut into triangles to be rolled like crescent rolls.  The yummy part is the melted butter and cinnamon and sugar spread on the dough before the cutting and rolling.  The crescents go back on the baking sheet and rise again for two hours.  This whole process take about five hours so there is no time to dawdle. It wouldn’t be a holiday without Aunt Esther’s rolls.  Tricia makes two batches, she knows they are a favorite.

I used to get up early to get the turkey stuffed and in the oven.  My mom’s turkey philosophy included the undeniable truth that it takes six to seven hours to roast a turkey.  Doesn’t matter what size the bird is, don’t think about taking it out of the oven before the sixth hour.   Clinging to that unwritten law we had some turkeys that literally  fell apart when placed on the platter, but they were so good.   

Mom was always in charge of gravy, that woman could make the best gravy ever.  I remember years later when she would sit in a chair near the kitchen door, waiting for the call to gravy duty.  She’d scrutinize the roasting pan, scrape the brown bits from the bottom, call for potato water and commence working her magic. In no time we had perfect creamy brown gravy to fill several gravy boats. 

Tricia and Greg have taken over the Thanksgiving festivities.  Monty is the designated turkey carver, and guess who is making the gravy.  Yep, that torch was passed to me. I hang out in the kitchen, mostly tasting the wine, but when gravy time is announced, watch out.  Mom shared the secrets with me and before I’m gone I’ll share them with Tricia; but until that time I want to maintain my position with the gravy ladle.  

The cast of characters has changed from those early Thanksgiving dinners and although we miss those who are gone the circle has widened and it is good.  The five granddaughters enjoy being in the kitchen and they are learning family traditions.  The guys talk a bit of football.  This year we are missing one of our granddaughters who is away at Graduate College in North Carolina. Our married grandson with his wife and two little boys will be joining the festivities.  Greg and Tricia’s dad, Bob and his wife, Janet, and her three children come with their families. Two of Janet’s children won’t be eating turkey with us this year, they came to celebrate Bob’s 80th birthday last month.   Circumstances might change who is here on any given Thanksgiving but the celebration is a joyous gathering and I’m so thankful for all of these wonderful people.

Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving.