Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I am sure my childhood memories of a wonderful weekend with family has something to do with how I feel about the holiday.
Every other year, we piled into the car and headed over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house. It was actually over the wintery, snow covered mountain pass... It was picture perfect in my mind. When we arrived at Grandma's house, we were greeted with hugs and kisses from the grandparents, and at least a couple of aunts and uncles, and a housefull of cousins.
My grandparents house was not fancy, but it was filled with love. There were 2 big rooms, one was the dine-in kitchen with a wood cook stove. The other big room was the living room with the pot belly stove in the corner. She had 1 tiny bathroom, 3 bedrooms, and a big, back porch room with the old fashioned wringer washing machine, and plenty of space to hang clothes to dry in the winter.
My grandma loved to bake, and she went into over drive when she knew we were coming in for the weekend. She prepared every kind of pie you can imagine. As soon as the car was unloaded we gathered around the old fashion kitchen table for cold fried chicken, potato salad, and at least a dozen pies. Grandma's fried chicken was the best... even cold it was super yummy. My family bought Grandma a new electric stove, but she always cooked on the wood stove. I was convinced her chicken was the best because of that old wood cook stove.
When the family all came home for the holidays, the house was brimming with love, laughter, and people. Us kids slept on the floor. It was like one big slumber party with girls whispering and giggling in the living room while the boys were snoring in the kitchen.
Bright and early in the morning we would wake up to Grandma singing southern gospel in the kitchen...
Everyone pitched in to help prepare for the dinner. The table was extended with a couple of fold away tables with plywood on top and covered by a tablecloth. It was centered in the middle of the kitchen. Chairs were brought in from the storage building, so everyone could sit around the table. Grandma's every day dishes were the gold lusterware. I always thought it was such a pretty table.
Our traditional dinner was fairly basic. Roast turkey, and duck, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, salad, olives, and cranberries. We had ice tea, and the adults had coffee. Grandpa or one of my uncles offered up a prayer of Thanksgiving and then we spent a couple hours around the table visiting, and sharing stories of long ago...
I cherish my memories of simple holidays... it really was about family and giving Thanks to our Lord.
