Thanksgiving Memories

What is everyone doing for Thanksgiving this year? Looks like it's
just going to be my husband Ed, me and my youngest son Eli this year, so I was actually planning to do the unthinkable and cancel Thanksgiving dinner. Then my emotions got the best of me, and I went out and bought a small turkey today. I guess I'll just scale things down a bit. I do miss those huge family dinners we used
to have at my mom's house, or at my in-laws' house, though.

One thing I'll always remember is my mom's dressing and gravy.
Everyone in the family thought she made the best dressing in the
world, and of course she never used a recipe. No one else has been
able to duplicate it exactly, but I think I've come pretty close.

When my mom was having health problems and wasn't able to fix a big
meal one year, my sister-in-law had the bright idea to buy a pre-
cooked turkey, dressing, and gravy from Kroger. I was thinking to
myself that this didn't sound like a very good idea, but being the
lady that I am, I remained silent. That dressing was probably one of
the worst things I have ever tasted, besides beets, which my brother
Neil correctly says tastes like "basement dirt".

When I was very, very young (and I can barely even remember this), my
dad went hunting right before Thanksgiving and he brought home some
kind of bird (maybe a pheasant?) and my mom cooked it and served it
to me, while everyone else ate turkey. In my mind, it seems like it
looked something like a Cornish game hen, but whatever it was, I just
know it was delicious. I doubt if I was over 3 years old at the time.

One Thanksgiving when I was in high school my Aunt Iva Lee,
who lived in one of those huge old antebellum homes near the town square in Marietta, GA, and was sort of "high society", gave us a Long Island
duckling. Mama baked it and I found a recipe for "savory wild rice
stuffing" in a cookbook, which I made for the duckling.

It looked so nice and fat with a big old breast, but when we cut into
the breast, we hit bone at what seemed like less than half an inch
into the breast. Dang, and we had lots of people to feed! Everybody
had just a small taste of the duckling because there just wasn't much
meat to be had. Mama said ducks apparently have a big hollow space so
they can float good on the water....lol...All I can say is, thank
goodness we also had a turkey as a backup, or we would have had some
very hungry folks on our hands.

Thanksgiving at the in-laws' house was always a little different. You
know not everyone cooks the same way. My mother-in-law, bless her
heart, has the following cooking method:

Turn it on high, walk away, and when you smell something burning,
she's says, "It's ready"!!

Actually she doesn't cook EVERYTHING on high. One time she was
cooking fried (frozen) okra, (she never coats it with cornmeal) and I
am not kidding you, she cooked it slowly for about 3 HOURS. (I was
keeping track) When she put it on the table it was a slimy, mushy
conglomeration of who knows what. Anyway, Ed was the first to put
some on his plate and he said, "What is this, turnip greens?" I had
to cover my face with my napkin to stifle the laughter...lol

These are the kind of memories that caused me to realize that no way could I
"cancel Thanksgiving" this year. Big crowd or small, Thanksgiving will still go on, and I realize more than ever that I have so much to be thankful for.