We have had many Thanksgivings here on the mountain. For years in the nineties we drove down to Mount Airy, NC to have Thanksgiving with my mother.
Often my wife would go down the day before to help. She would often have much of the meal already done.
For a few years before she moved in with us in 2000, I would drive down and pick her up and bring her to the mountain.
No matter what, Thanksgiving was always a time to get together and do together. Since our children have become adults, they always been involved in the preparation of the meal.
Last night as we were coming back from dinner, we started talking about stuffing. I suggested that we needed to try oyster and sausage stuffing which I had one of the Thanksgivings that I enjoyed in New England. That hardly got our of my mouth before it was shot down.
That immediately brought back memories of that first Thanksgiving on our Nova Scotia farm. It was 1971. A number of us had just graduated from Harvard. I had bought 140 acres and an old house and barn on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. After graduation four of us had been working on rebuilding the house for several months. We had made some great progress.
The house had been roofed, painted, insulated, wired, plumbed, and even had some walls. We were still mostly sleeping on foam pads on the floor. We had hot water, heat, and a kitchen with a dishwasher. I had gotten a brick mason to build us a new chimney with a stone fireplace.
A number of friends from college came up to visit us that first Thanksgiving. While most of us had spent a Thanksgiving or two away from home, it had always been in someone else's home. This was to be our first Thanksgiving on our own.
There were a number of capable young ladies in the group, including my good friend Sally, still none had ever attempted a turkey on their own. Then there were all these details like what to put in the stuffing, how to make the cranberry sauce, and what vegetables to have with our meal.
There was a lot of give and take, and we eventually had a magnificient meal that I am sure most of us still remember fondly. One of our friends died a few years ago, she is certainly missed, but the rest of us are still doing Thanksgiving dinners.
Ours is going well. We are not in any rush since I cooked country ham and eggs for breakfast. The cranberry sauce is made. This year our cranberries included some picked by Jon, one of the members of that original group. The pumpkin pie is almost done. The broccoli casserole is ready to bake, and the sweet potatoes are cooking. The turkey is almost ready to go in the oven just as noon rolls around. I should have the remaining dirty dishes washed in another five minutes or so. Then will break for a snack around one and then plan to have dinner around six this evening.
After dinner we will finish the Trivial Pursuit game that we started last night. It is great to have our family around. It is hard to say what I enjoy most, this year's celebration or the memories of the all the wonderful Thanksgving Days of the past.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, enjoy either this year's or a great one from the past.
Very good, I enjoyed this piece. Always best to spend the holidays surrounded by friends and family.
Posted by: Stephen | November 28, 2008 at 07:46 AM
So how many friendly furry dogs made it to your Thanksgiving dinner?
Did they get any turkey or was it strickly dog chow?
Have a great holiday.
Posted by: ocracokewaves | November 28, 2008 at 07:52 AM