Memories

  Do you have memories of Thanksgiving from when you were growing up?  I think everyone does.  I have lots of memories.  My mother was not much of a cook so she developed a system as innovations appeared on the market.

The day before Thanksgiving, mom would make sure the turkey was thawed.  She usually did that by soaking the whole thing, including the wrapping, in a sink full of water.  The night before, mom and dad would make the stuffing and stuff the bird, and prep it for cooking.  When I was little, they used a roasting pan covered in aluminum foil.  Later on they switched to a cooking bag and they used a Turkey with that pop up thermometer to tell them the turkey was done.

At about 3 or 4 in the morning, my mother would get up to put the turkey into bake and go back to bed till 7 when she got up for the day.  She would try to get the meal ready by noon but it was usually around 2 the meal was served.  Dad wasn't always happy because she seemed to serve the meal in the middle of the football game he was watching.

She always made the whole meal herself for the family.  She always made the turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole with the onion rings, raw carrots and celery, cranberry sauce with and without the whole cranberries, pickles and olives.  There were always store bought rolls and of course two to three kinds of pies.

Its always amazing how much food we managed to inhale and how much was left over.  I think we spent the next week eating turkey this and turkey that.  Mom and dad had one of those machines they could make ground turkey with for enchiladas and the bones always provided broth for the soup.

I will not be publishing anything tomorrow due to it being a holiday.  I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving tomorrow.