Thursday, November 19, 2020

Turkey Day Memories

Today I want to put a couple memories of Thanksgiving Days past out there.  I know we all have special memories of different days.

My Mom would bake so many goodies - pies and cakes and homemade yeast rolls. Her rolls were so good.  The turkey was always cooked during the over night.  No cooking bags back then!
It was all you could do - to sleep!!!  The house smelled so incredible.  
She made two types of dressing.  Regular and oyster (ick).  My Dad and brothers and even Glen liked the oyster dressing - oh my I just couldn't stomach that.
I still use some of Mom's recipes for special items and even her grand daughter's do.  Her special dishes are still around.

I think just about everyone came home to Mom and Dad's on Thanksgiving.  They may not have stayed long - but everyone stopped by for a visit and a goody.
We had people in the kitchen, the dining room and the living room.  If nice out - people even used the front porch.  I remember people even sitting on the steps going upstairs.
The house wasn't big - but it sure was full of love.

I remember one year when I was around 8 or 9, Mom had pretty extreme back surgery and had to wear a body cast - hips to underarms.  That thing was massive back then.  Dad decided he would fix Thanksgiving dinner.  His biggest job was the turkey.
I remember him carving up the turkey (which looked lovely) and he found the giblet packet inside!!!!!  Mom was mortified and Daddy thought it was hilarious (as did everyone else).
That was talked about for years and Daddy never got turkey duty again!!!!!!


We had Thanksgiving for everyone a few times here in our little home ( to give Mom some relief).  It was wall to wall people.  Luckily the years we had it, the weather was decent and we got to ship kids outside to play some!  
The last year I did a BIG T-day, was unbelievable.  I had a big ham, turkey and turkey breast, 10 lbs. of potatoes mashed, tons of dressing and green beans and desserts out the wazoo.  I had tons of people RSVP and went with that.  Well...... a bunch showed up that hadn't RSVP'd and they brought boyfriend/girlfriends and kids.   First time ever in my life that I never had a leftover AT ALL.  They ate everything.  That was the last whole family T-day I had.
We went much smaller every year after that.

My favorite thing about Thanksgiving dinner is having having a cold turkey sandwich the next day.  That is the best!!!!  I look so forward to that simple little thing.

I sure do miss those days.  Mom, Dad, sis and brother, in-laws that are gone and of course Glen - it was precious. I am glad I can sit and remember.  What a gift!

Life sure goes by quickly.  You turn your head and years seem to fly by.
I truly love being able to live those days over and over in my head.

Do you have any favorite memories of Thanksgivings past?  Any funny happenings - or mishaps?
Please share.  I love reading everyone's stories.
Have a great weekend!


 

29 comments:

  1. You are so right about the years flying by and loved ones gone on before us. My Mom is still living but she cannot do the cooking anymore. We moved away from home 26 years ago and I had to learn to do it myself. I don't do near so much anymore. I don't make the rolls from scratch because it is just too much to do now but I do make the pies. None of our family will be home this year so we have invited friends. It makes me sad that all our children are spread far and wide and will all be alone this year. Here's hoping for a better year next year!

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    1. I am happy to hear you still have your Mom - what a blessing. I hear you - I don't do what I used to do either.
      I am sorry you can't be with your children - I hope you talk to them. Have a nice time with your friends!
      HOPING!!
      We just never know.

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  2. My sister's first turkey still had the giblet package in it too! So funny. And my sister in law had huge onions in her dressing. Also her first turkey. I do miss all the family at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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    1. That is funny. I like onions - but not big old bites!! LOL
      I guess we all need to learn. Mom thought she told Daddy everything he needed to know - but forgot that part! LOL
      Still good for a laugh.

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    2. My middle sister did the same thing the first year she cooked a turkey. She'd called me to double-check a couple of things and when it came to making gravy I told her to use the giblets - the what? The package that was in the turkey - OOPS!

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    3. That is so funny Margie. I think maybe many a first time turkey baker has done the same. Stories to tell for ages!

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  3. When I was growing up, we always went to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving. Grandpa had made a "portable" table from a huge sheet of plywood, that sat over top of their dining room table (which sat 8), so that all of us could sit together, probably 16-20 of us, if not more. I remember Grandma scrambling to find thick telephone books or supply catalogs for the "littles" to sit on, so they'd be able to reach the table. Grandma always set the table with her good china, with either apple or cranberry juice in small glasses at every place setting. There were always huge platters and bowls of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, along with cranberry sauce (sliced from the can and fresh), green beans (plain, grandpa would spoon thousand island dressing over his), and our family's favorite corn casserole. I still make that corn casserole for every holiday dinner. My mother's younger sisters would let me help with assembling the relish tray, hence my love for the red apple rings. Grandma probably made 3 or 4 dozen brown-n-serve type dinner rolls, and there were pies upon pies -- multiple pumpkin, a Dutch apple, mincemeat, and pecan, along with Grandma's apple slices, and she always had oatmeal raisin cookies in her cookie jar (which I inherited). After dinner, Grandpa, great-grandpa, my dad, and uncle commandeered the couch and recliners for the football game and a nap, while we kids were sent out on a nature-themed scavenger hunt. The women did kitchen clean-up. The celebration always ended after turkey sandwiches and other leftovers, followed by watching The Wizard of Oz on their TV. Our grandparents have since passed and their farm was sold. Most recent Thanksgivings have been smaller as our family has scattered. This year, it's being limited to immediate family only (in my case, 3, + 2 other friends who lost their mother 2 weeks ago). I'm hopeful that next year we can all gather together again in one large group.

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    1. I could actually see that scene in my mind. You gave a wonderful description. It just sounds lovely.
      I had forgotten about the Wizard of Oz. That was always a neat way to end the evening.
      Adults at Mom and Dad's played euchre after dinner or napped! Nobody was much into football. I now remember watching the parade on Thanksgiving morning and seeing Santa ride in at the end.
      I love sharing stories like this - it refreshes many memories for all of us.
      I am glad your friends can be with you after such a horrible loss.

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  4. Hi Cheryl. Nice to meet you. I clicked on your comment link that you left at another blog. Oh how I have fond memories of Thanksgiving (and Christmas) at my folks' home. Even after married and after my grandson was born...good time, great memories. A funny time was when my mom was showing off her new corning ware dinner plates. Advertised as being unbreakable...she dropped one on the floor & it shattered. I enjoyed reading you blog.

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    1. Hi there - happy to have you here. Hope you stick around.
      It is so fun to sit and think about those holidays past.
      Oh my, I really love coring ware but boy WHEN they DO break they really break. You can pick up pieces for days!
      Have a wonderful day.

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  5. Thanksgiving wasn't a really big holiday when we were growning up. Mom baked apple pies and of course we had turkey. In our house it was always Christmas that was the bigger celebration.

    God bless.

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    1. I understand that. That is kind of how I feel today. Christmas is the most special.
      Just a nice meal is enough.
      Blessings.

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  6. I left the giblet bag in the first turkey I ever cooked, too! But here's the funny thing--I did it again when I was about 70! Some of us are slow learners, LOL.

    We are a small family. My husband was an only child and my sister moved to Colorado 50 years ago, and we are not close. For many years, it was just my husband, my mother-in-law, my two kids and me. I don't do yeast very well and always looked forward to my MIL's rolls and the pan of cinnamon rolls she made for breakfast. One year, when we lived in California, my sister happened to be in the area and she and her husband and children joined my husband and me. I remember my sister wondering how I could cook a meal with so few pots and pans! When my mother died 25 years ago, I inherited her big covered roasting pan...and I've bought a few more pots along the way, LOL. This year it will just be my husband, daughter and I at our vacation home. I have a smaller turkey in the freezer from last year. My son and DIL live 500+ miles away and do not have children and both will be working that day. We will be at their house for Christmas.

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    1. That is funny on the giblet bag. It happens!
      Small is good too. It doesn't matter as long as you are with special people.
      I have Mom's turkey roaster as well.
      It sounds like it will be a lovely day for you. ENJOY

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  7. My first turkey was when I was pregnant and had a child under two. I got up at 6 am to start the turkey that had been in the refrigerator long enough, I thought. After three hours of pulling on the neck and giblet bag and running water into the turkey cavity, I finally cooked the giblets in the bag in the turkey. It did not kill us. After that, I was always close enough to home to go back to Memphis for the whole family gathering.

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    1. Oh that is funny. Obviously not near long enough!!! LOL
      No - there is no way it would hurt you. Just a funny thought. Sounds like many have done it.
      Smart move - go home and have some one else cook!!!!

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  8. I cooked the giblet bag in my first Turkey and my dad thought it was much funnier than I did. We had a very large house growing up and everyone came to our house. I hated it. As we had to clean for days and then all the cousins (mostly boys) would come and destroy the place and then it was dishes forever. My Uncles all drank way too much. Just not good memories, but I made my own good memories after I grew up and started my own Thanksgivings. I loved cooking for my family and learned to make wonderful pies and rolls. I still make all the pies and rolls for every holiday. My children come and we have such good laughs.

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    1. You are making wonderful memories for your children and grands. Someday they will be talking about all the fun memories!
      Sorry your memories aren't that good. Yes, I remember they endless dishes! No dishwasher and no paper plates - UGH.

      I love that we can alter "our" history. We have the joy and making things fun and one day we will all be the memory!

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  9. My favorite is dressing up and the decorations! Of course, the food too. The good china and table looked beautiful! And the Family! So nice. I miss it.

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    1. We didn't decorate much for Thanksgiving - but did use the good china. Pretty tablecloth and we did have special salt & pepper shakers!
      I miss those days too.

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  10. Funny stories about leaving the giblet bag in the turkey! Easy to do, that's for sure. You had a herd of folks come through if you didn't have any leftovers. Leftover turkey sandwiches are the best.
    I'm with you on the oyster dressing. I made it one year but no more. It's good to see people enjoy the food, tho. Years ago we went to a Thanksgiving dinner at a local restaurant. The people who went with us was a former sheet metal worker and his wife. The Urban Farmer had worked with him for years. They would go out to eat on Thanksgiving but she would cook a full meal at home so they could have leftovers. I always thought that was funny. The very first Thanksgiving dinner I cooked turned out to be perfect, everything was done at the same time. It was amazing as I was not a seasoned cook. There have been some ups and downs through the years but mostly good. It will just be the three of us, the Urban Farmer, youngest daughter and myself. And of course the dogs Riley and Jacob, waiting for tidbits.

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    1. Even just me now - if I go else where I make at least a turkey breast. I want leftover turkey!!!! So I understand that.
      you must have had the luck of the God's on your side to have a perfect first!!
      Can't forget the furbies!

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  11. Our big meals sound like most of yours...but one addition was that my grandpa HAD to have creamed onions! My aunt always made them just for him. I did not like them as a child! They were smaller onions and were floating in some sort of cream sauce. Another pie added to the pumpkin and apple was the mincemeat. Many good memories.

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    1. Mmmmmm - NOT! LOL
      Mom always made mincemeat pie as well. I was never a big fan. Fruit pies, pumpkin, and of course cheesecake.
      I love this is getting everyone to remember some obscure things!

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  12. Phew, reading all the stories actually makes me glad we were a fairly small family. Thanksgiving was always spent with my grandparents, though my Nan abdicated the cooking to my mom well before I was born. She would sit at the kitchen table and play canasta with the three kids while mom bustled around. Mom called every turkey George, and it went in the oven by 7:30 or 8 in the morning - I do recall the smell was phenomenal.
    After dinner Grandpa would try to snooze on the couch while we pestered him. As I got older I was part of the clean-up crew and even with 8 people it seemed the dishes were never completely done.
    My first foray in turkey cooking was the year mom had a stroke just a few days before Christmas. I'd watched her over the years and knew enough to take the giblet package out of the bird. The stuffing was my undoing - I put lots of sage in it and didn't mix it well enough. Then there was the gravy my older brother made - it was mini-dumplings in gravy. Mom was allowed to come home from the hospital for a few hours (Christmas was also her birthday). She took a mouthful of dressing and the sage made her choke! I was worried she would have another stroke! But she was with us for another several years, and I made her sit at the table while she directed me in the making of the meal.

    Take care and stay well!

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    1. Nothing like the smell!
      Oh that is funny. I am not a sage person at all - so never added that ingredient. Lumpy gravy - well it happens!
      What fun things to remember and laugh about today.
      Glad you got to have Mom for many more years!

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  13. One of our Thanksgiving traditions is telling mishap stories. One time I thawed the turkey on counter too long and it STUNK. Hubby had to bury it in the backyard. Thank you for the lovely post - the picture of remembering made me cry.

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    1. Oh nooooo! What a horrible thing to happen. At least you turn it into a fun story now!
      Some days those memories just roll down our cheeks - don't they? I often and sit and watch the rain and just remember.
      Thank you and have a great weekend.

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  14. My favorite Thanksgiving was the year my dad turned 75 on Thanksgiving day! The whole family showed up. Dad got to open gifts, play poker with whoever wanted to play and generally have a good time. He only lived a few years longer so this was a special celebration. I got 75 people to send him a birthday card from all over. Friends and relatives. Even some people he had never met. They started coming the week of his birthday and each had a dollar and a message in it for my dad. He was so surprised and excited to get so much mail. The mail man talked about it for a long time after that. Glad we could give him a happy 75th / Thanksgiving.

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