Every family has its own Thanksgiving traditions and
standard Thanksgiving menu. This was
ours for many years:
With extended family growing, they are now creating their
own traditions. Life continues to change our family also. We lost our sister Tony this year to cancer
and I’ll miss what she always brought to our Thanksgiving. I’ll miss her Tony’s Tators and her baked
beans. Most of all, I’ll miss her laugh
and huge personality. Her warm spirit
and memories will still be a part of all of my future Thanksgivings and will
always be a part of my heart. So with
change comes new traditions, but I can still carry with me the wonderful
memories.
So today I thought I’d share some of our Thanksgivings gone
by standard menus. I have shared many of
the recipes already with you in my blog and will continue to share more. If there is anything special you would like,
please let me know. I’d be happy to share
it.
The invitation always read noon. Yes, we sent out
invitations with RSVP on them, but very few ever RSVPed, they just showed up or
not.
Everyone brought their special dishes. We were outraged if they did not bring what
they had brought for years or they did not come bringing their special dish. Everyone was told to be there at noon and
they arrived very hungry, so I always had appetizers ready to start snacking on. Two huge buffets were always set up, one for
desserts and one for dinner. Mom always
made several pies for the occasion and we’d all say over and over again “Maw,
that sure looks like good pie!” We never
tired of the ol’ tease. Dion or Eddie carved the turkey and we would
all hover over it to see if we could steal part of the gizzard or liver. There were so many of us (when my house was
full of foster kids we would number over 30), that we could not all sit at the
tables set up, so everyone scattered throughout the house and found a chair to
their liking. The men would sit in the
living room so they could watch the game. The kids went through the line first,
then the adults filling their plates with two meats, two potato dishes, and all
the trimmings. The group always went back
for seconds. No one counted calories or watched diets on Thanksgiving and their was always plenty.
When the day was over and it was time to go, if there were any leftovers, people would get baggies and left over containers and take home
what ever they could grab. It became a
tradition to get to the leftovers early and get what you could and hide it so
you got your fair share. Dion always
made dozens and dozens of rolls so we could take home his wonderful rolls.
I can hear the noise now and see the mess left, but after
everyone was gone, I missed it and was so thankful for having it in my
home. Big old houses were meant for just
such occasions.
I’ve shared many of the recipes already with you. I’ll note what I shared already in case you
wish to refer back to them. I’ll also
share a few more recipes in the next week before Thanksgiving.
Mashed potatoes and gravy – I shared the gravy with my
turkey blog and I’ll share our mashed potatoes in a future blog.
Tony’s Tators - I’ll
share this soon
Dion’s smoked pork – He won’t share his secret bread and
pork recipe, so you’ll have to come up with your own. I did share a great recipe for Texas Road House biscuits and they would be great for Thanksgiving.
Tony’s baked beans – I’ll share
Sausage and sage dressing – I’ve shared oyster and a sweet
dressing. I’ll share mom’s sausage dressing yet.
Cranberry fluff – I shared this week
Sweet potatoes – I’ll share
Green bean casserole – I’ll share
Pie’s – I’ll share
Charmayne’s pumpkin bars – I shared in an October blog
Cranberry compote – I’ll share
Cherry dessert – I shared this week
The family is scattering further and further away and each
of my siblings have their own extended family Thanksgiving now. I now go to my son’s and we have established new
traditions which are very special because my grandsons are part of those
traditions. I still treasure the many
years I held Thanksgiving at my home though and thank God for those memories
and special moments, but look forward to future Thanksgivings with my growing immediate family.
I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with much love, lots of
tradition, and great memories. Be happy
and may God bless you.
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