dr and I are both in our 70's now. I was thinking today about past Thanksgivings. When I was a child we always celebrated Christmas with our grandparents on my mom's side of the family. Thanksgiving seemed to be for my dad's side of the family. Since my mom and dad both came from large families we always seemed to have many, many people at the dinner table. Thanksgiving always seemed to include between 30 and 40 people. Adults got to sit at the dining room table. Children sat at the kitchen table or on the floor in the living room or where ever they could find a place. Dinner included the largest turkey in the store and a ham, also, if the number of people was larger than a turkey could feed. I remember my mom always being up before daylight to get that turkey in the oven. It had to be stuffed so that had to be done first. Menu included the turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy. candied sweet potatoes, scalloped corn, green beans, a vegetable tray with carrots, celery, peppers, and whatever else could fit on it and pumpkin pie. wannabe maybe can remember what else was on the menu. Dishes was a chore for the children. Girls, of course. Boys didn't do household chores. Boys didn't do much of anything that I can recall. After the advent of television the men and boys congragated in the living room. It was always a noisy funfilled day and if it wasn't too cold or snowing outside games was the highlight of the day, other than the meal. Since the meal was at noon or shortly after the leftovers were supper and most of the people were there for supper, too. Sometimes supper was served on paper plates and cold. If you wanted it hot, too bad. Now, we'd just put it in the microwave. Then, you ate it cold or put it in a pan on the stove and chanced it getting charred. Now, there is just the two of us. We could go to friends and neighbors but sometimes just the two of us is more than enough. Remembering is a good thing to do when holidays are near. We sure had some good times in our 70 plus years. dooley
Dooley yoy forgot the stuffing, noodles, apple salad, 3 or four different kind of pies and homemade bread and rolls. I remember Grandpa always wanted mincemeat or raisen pie. Now there is not so many people and we don't eat that much food. wannabe
Dooley, part of Thanksgiving's attraction is remembering the holidays past. I remember having a 25 lb. turkey that just barely fit into the oven, and having to do all the baking the day before because the oven was occupied! We had a Japanese couple and their two children come for Thanksgiving one year (the husband was working with my husband and they were here for only a year). I set the turkey in front of my husband to be carved, and the Japanese gentleman jumped up, whipped out his camera, and started taking pictures of the turkey, side dishes, my husband with the carving knife in his hand and a startled expression on his face, and even the floral arrangement on the sideboard! Then he arranged his wife and children around the turkey and took more photos. I was afraid everything was going to get cold while we had the "photo-op"! Different strokes for different folks. When they got around to eating, they seemed to enjoy the food. It's just the two of us now, but I still get to cook and enjoy making a small feast for us (and the cat).
When I was a kid,Thanksgiving dinner was always in the late afternoon, usually around 3 pm. The morning was for rabbit and pheasant hunting. Usually there would be a little snow on the ground for that also. My Uncle Bill, Mom's 1/2 brother, and his brood would usually there too. They lived in the city and his kids would go wild over a day in the country. There were 7 kids from his family plus 4 kids from our family. Always a busy Holiday. Now it's just the 3 of us and it's not so busy. My son has to work at WalMart until 5 pm, so it will be a Thanksgiving supper for us. Since a Turkey is always to big for us, we get a small one and then cut it in half before cooking. Then we have the other half at Christmas. One year, the first year we cut it in half, we couldn't find any fresh turkeys, so using my head, I cut the frozen bird in half with the chain saw! Took me longer to clean up than it did to cook it!
We have a frozen one this year. It's only 10 lbs but I will use leftovers in soup and freeze some after it is cooked for other things. When our oldest son was younger he always had to find the largest turkey at the store and that's what we bought. Of course, following tradition we always had enough people to eat it. dooley
I wish I had DH Grandmother's recipe cookbook. And My own Grandmother's I loved Her cranberry salad. Sliced canned Cranberry just not the same.Dh Friend Used one of those Turkey fryers . About burnt His GF garage down. Wish my house was bigger. Going to My Sis's house.
We have a smaller family Dooley, but we still all get together for Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner. One year we tried deep frying it - didn't go over well and now we always do it in the oven. Some things you just shouldn't mess with LOL Of course, we have Thanksgiving in October here in Canada, but the rest of the traditions seem the same
One of Thanksgivings that will also stick out in my mind was about 8 years ago. Hubby's youngest brother was in an auto accident the day before Thanksgiving and was life-flighted to Shreveport Louisiana a few hours away from where he lived. Everyone's dinner plans pretty much got cancelled or delayed. We were at the hospital most of the day and when we did decide to get something to eat, we couldn't find a restaurant opened anywhere! Finally we found a Waffle House that was opened. No turkey on the menu (Hubby doesn't like it much anyhow). So we ordered pork chop dinners. Feeling rather silly for some reason, we cut our pork chops in the shape of a turkey, and said "Happy Thanksgiving"! It's a running joke now between us. Maybe that's the reason we don't usually have traditional Holiday meals. We cook whatever we're in the mood for.
Texas leads the nation in insurance claims for cooking fires. The National Insurance Institute says this is caused by the popularity of frying turkeys. Illinois is second, and I believe Louisiana was third on the list. Folks, roast your turkeys!
Jane... I don't like roasted turkeys all that much. I prefer them either smoked or fried. But you're right... frying them can be dangerous! And I've heard of people who actually try to fry them indoors. If you don't know what you're doing, have someone with experience do it for you!
If you know what you are doing, frying a turkey doesn't end up burning down your house Randy's dad fried one several years ago...not in the house...I really liked it but they didn't so we haven't had another one. When I was really young all of my Dad's family would meet out in Ranger at my Great-grandfather's house for dinner. Three hour drive from our home but we would get out there around 10 and I would get to drive with my ggdad out into the country where a family who raised turkeys had killed/cleaned and cooked one for him. My grandmother and great Aunts were in charge of preparing the rest of the meal. When I was older and ggdad had passed, we would have dinner at my grandparents. My grandmother always put the turkey in a slow oven Wednesday night before going to bed so by the next morning you were starving from smelling it all night. But that was the absolute tenderest turkey you could ever dream of, that's the only way I cook one now. My granddad would carve it in the kitchen, I would 'help' him by eating the crunchy skin that he peeled off while carving the meat. The rest of the food was basically the same as other families had but my Thanksgiving day memories are mostly about my Great-Granddad, my Granddad and turkeys.
I think for most people Thanksgiving may be about food. But, when I look back it was a lot about who was there to share it with you. If it wasn't family, it was friends. When our Dan was in the Navy he ask if he could bring some buddies who were too far from home to go home. We ended up with 8 or 10 extra people. But, it made for a great day, for them and for us, too. People really make Thanksgiving. But if there is just the two of us we enjoy it just as much. We're thankful that there are two of us. dooley
