The Feasting Holiday
Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. There are no special sales, no costumes to wear, no special decorations put up way too many months in advance. Just family and/or friends gathering together to celebrate the bounty of the harvest. What could be a better holiday?
When I was a little kid in NJ, my father’s mother would have the family over. There would be the 4 of us, my uncle (and later his wife and child), and my aunt. The things I remember most about the Thanksgivings there was that there was always cauliflower with cheese sauce, canned cranberry sauce/jelled stuff, and a pickle tray that included pimento-stuffed green olives (which I hate to this day.) She always lived in an apartment, so I don’t recall ever noticing the outdoors on that day.
When we moved to Georgia, we switched grandmothers for the holiday. Then my mother’s mother would cook the meal, and even more people were at the table. My Polish great-grands were there with Nanny in her wheelchair (not from age, but from Muscular Dystrophy), the 4 of us, my mother’s 6 brothers and sisters and often the assundry SO’s attached at the time, usually my mother’s cousin and his wife. It was a HUGE dinner and all of us would dine at the table, with a kids’ table to the side because there wasn’t enough room for us all. I remember her sweet-potato pie being a thing of wonder. Squash casserole was almost always on the menu.
Now the family holidays involve caravanning to my surviving grandmother’s place and eating a buffet style meal with fewer options. It’s ok, but it doesn’t feel as nice as those old meals crowded about the table. For many years a friend from college would host an orphan Thanksgiving for all us without local family. When she stopped the tradition, my husband and I tried cooking the meal for ourselves, but for me it’s just not Thanksgiving when there’s only two people at the table. It just feels like another Sunday watching football.
Which is why I’m so happy that a friend has us over for Thanksgiving every year. She’s a marvelous cook and loves to cook for a crowd of hungry people. This year she’s even taking in my dance partner who is usually an orphan for the holiday. Her turkey is the ONLY turkey I’ve ever had that wasn’t too dry.
So next Thursday I’ll get up and watch the Macy’s T-day parade while eating a light breakfast and drinking my morning cup in preparation for the marvelous meal that awaits. There is nothing better than this.
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