Yeah, I wasn’t so happy with Mother Nature’s gift on Friday, and the worst part was the snow being so heavy to shovel. I think I grabbed my chest five times as I pushed the snowy slush away.
The worst part of any snowstorm is the borough sets the plow pointing on my side of the street and I have to shovel 10 times more snow than normal.
Having a snow thrower for this storm was useless, so it all had to be done by hand. I’m banking on the warmer weather in the next week to melt the mess away.
With that said, it’s Thanksgiving week, my favorite holiday of the year.
Growing up there was so much family to share the special day with food and gathering and more food.
Thanksgiving Day was when you knew my mom was an all-star in the kitchen. I telling you now, there was nothing this woman couldn’t cook or bake that didn’t turn out stupendous. Cooking was her superpower.
There was so much food, I mean, so much. Being Italian, we started off the meal with an Italian dish. Usually it was lasagna for Thanksgiving and ravioli for Christmas. Sometimes it was ravioli for both and I never argued about that choice.
The aroma in the house was intoxicating with food and we often woke up Thanksgiving morning with the smell of turkey in the oven. Mom or dad would wake up early, very early, to prepare the turkey for the oven.
Usually there were candied yams, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes (lots of mashed potatoes) and gravy. It was quite the feast.
Someone always shouted out for the dark meat of the turkey so that was a battle.
After our appetizer of the selected Italian dish, we took a slight break and then back at it for the turkey meal.
I’m not sure where I had room for the turkey dinner, because I was stuffed from the lasagna or ravioli, but I always managed and crammed it in.
Eating to ad nauseam, I would roll out of my seat, wait for the dishes to be cleared, then back at it for homemade deserts. I loved Mom’s homemade pies. I’m not a big apple pie person but man her pies were unreal. She would make fully covered apple pie, lattice covered apple pie, and one year she even made an apple cream pie. I’m not sure how she did that last one but it was an apple pie with a full crust that was about three inches high and a whole layer of cream between the apple and the crust.
Every so often, she would make pineapple or blueberry squares and the crust were so soft and flakey. I really don’t know if I’ve ever had a pineapple or blueberry square just like hers.
Mom didn’t stop with one desert; usually it was two or three.
Our turkey dinner was around noon or 1 p.m. and when it was all over, clean up began and as a young child, I didn’t have to partake in that ritual, so I would waddle to the living room and find somewhere to settle. It wouldn’t take long before you felt life falling asleep and about four-hours later, usually around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., the food came back out for round 2.
Naturally the best part of Thanksgiving was leftovers for days and for some odd reason, the food tasted just as good or better
Thanksgiving was a lot more fun when we had guests eating with us; the more the merrier.
Depending on my mother’s schedule, she would have the house decorated for Christmas or would put out Christmas decorations a few days after Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving through Christmas and New Years was my mother’s wheelhouse. She just loved to cook and decorate for the holidays.
Our house was filled with lights everywhere. Of course, there were lights on the tree, lights on the banister, lights over doorways, and lights around windows. Mom was big on gold garland and tinsel and the tree was on a revolving stand.
It was so much fun growing up during the holidays at my house.
The prep before the yuletide season was intense. She would take down the summer/fall curtains and put up the winter, fiberglass-backed heavy drapes and it made the house just so much warmer and cozier. Honestly, even the sound was different when you spoke with the winter drapes because they sort of deadened the sound.
Mom cleaned like a maniac, moth crystals and all and everything was so spic and span.
There was a lot of tradition back then and I for one really miss that. So many of them gone by the wayside and that makes me sad.
So many of my extended family lived close and visiting during the holidays was special. Today my extended family doesn’t really exist. Sadly, all my grandparents, parents and all of my aunts and uncles save one are all gone.
Thanksgiving, a day of thanks and I have a lot to be thankful.
Quote of the Week
“Thanksgiving is a time when the world gets to see just how blessed and how workable the Christian system is. The emphasis is not on giving or buying, but on being thankful and expressing that appreciation to God and to one another.” – John Clayton
Thought of the Week
“Just when the air turns frosty and the days shrink into darkness, the Christmas season arrives in America. It begins at Thanksgiving—with families, feasts and football.” ‒ J. Curtis Sanburn
Bumper Sticker
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.” – Henry David Thoreau
