THANKSGIVING 2010 -- Early Memories

Seems impossible to me that Turkey Bird Day is here again.  My daughter and I were going over the menu this afternoon and my mind was flooded with thoughts and the past Thanksgiving Dinners.  I thought through the yeas from my childhood, in my first marriage, away from home places, my second marriage.....the foods I have had, the people, and the places of my Thanksgiving.   You may kinda question why I am spending time on my blog with all that is going on.  I will deal with all other things in other blogs or emails.  Tonight I am concentrating on Thanksgivings over the last 75 yeas.  This post deals with the first thirteen of them. All in the same home.

Before I begin the descriptions I need to remind you that some of these years were during World War !!.  In those days sugar was rationed and we didn't have the sweets that were usual.  The other things were pretty much the same because we grew and canned all our vegetables, killed our turkey, and had a friend who supplied all the eggs.  For some of you it might be fun to look up President Roosevelt's comments about Thanksgivings in these yeas. They are very enlightening.  I may be important to remember that President Roosevelt set the day we now celebrate in the late 30's. Before then it had been the last Thursday of November.  The reason FDR did it was to extend shopping. I thought he was a Democrat??  See stamps at the bottom for sugar, gasoline, shoes.....

Of course I cannot remember in any detail the first five or six Thanksgivings but I do remember the ones with Grandmother and Grandaddy.  The table was always set in the dining room, not the kitchen.  The best linen and dishes found their way to the table.  Grandmother would spend many hours before the day polishing silver and washing up the best dishes that hadn't been used since last Christmas.  Yes.  Only for use on Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter.  We lived in the same house until I was in the seventh grade when it burned to the ground and a new one was built on the same site.  The dining room table was large and it was not unusual for it to have too many adults for kids to eat there.  We were set a table in the kitchen, of course.  The house was a kind of lodge built in the twenties.  The dining room had a huge floor to ceiling cabinet along one wall, there was wainscoting all around and on one end of the room were windowed doors overlooking the lake.  There were numerous antiques in the room:  a sideboard, a side table, a large desk and the table and chairs.  The appliance pictures are authentic.

The menu was all about turkey, just like everyone else, I guess.  One thing about the turkey was that Grandaddy always killed one for us.  Wild birds were right close by and were numerous.  He spent months before hunting out the perfect bird.  One of the Thanksgivings was special in this regard.  He came home with two birds.  He swore he got them both with one shot.  Just as he let fly, the second bird put his head in way to the shot. I sue didn't see this happen.

  We would keep the turkey alive until the day before cooking time.  Grandaddy would hang the bird on the clothes line, cut off his head, and run to keep from getting showered with blood.  Soon as that was over, the bird was dunked into a huge tub of boiling water, feathers were plucked, the bird was gutted, the giblet cleaned, and the liver retrieved and all the pinfeathers were burned.   Then to the kitchen.

A few days before the important day, Grandmother had been busy getting the table lines out and the final dishes and silver gotten ready.  She would have the sweet potatoes cooked and in the fridge waiting for final ton of sugar and spices, vanilla and baking.  The jello salad would be in the refrigerator, having been made a few days back.  It was so good and so tempting.  My fingers found their way into the long rectangular glass dish more than once.. Stale bread was toasted and cut up for the dressing.  This of course was before the days of Pepperidge farms wonderful bag.  The bread would be wet after the Turkey had been baked and the drippings were divided between the dressing and the gravy.  Careful attention had been given to the deviled eggs which had to be very fresh, made only  a few hours before the meal.   Plenty of celery sticks were prepared and getting crisp in the refrigerator.  Cranberry sauce came in a can.. yes Ocean Spray.  I know that my other grandmother made hers, but it was jelly at our house and canned.

Pickles of many types were waiting in their special jars.  None of them were made in Mt. Olive or some other processor.  These pickles had  been made in the late summer by Grandmother, Aunt Bessie, Aunt Mary and others who dropped into the farm in Wentworth to help with the canning.  The best pickles were the bead and butte ones made by Aunt Bessie.  But we also loved the sweet little ones and of course the pickled peaches. (I cannot make them and cannot find them in stores today.)  Canned vegetables were plentiful and had been canned when the pickles were made.  We always had wonderful green beans (casseroles were not in vogue yet).   The turkey was moist and wonderful, especially the leg.  To this day it is my favorite part.   We had  yeast rolls made in cloverleaf fashion by grandmother using cakes of yeast.  Creamy gravy made with drippings from the turkey, chopped boiled eggs, and seasoned perfectly.

As if this was not enough.... the dessert was a work of art.  Made several days before, three things were always there: FRESH coconut cake, a couple of pecan pies, and pumpkin pie.  Sometimes there were extra ones, depending on the mood of the day.