“Thanksgiving dinners take 18 hours to prepare. They are consumed in 12 minutes. Half-times take 12 minutes. This is not a coincidence.”
Today is in the low 40’s. There was a crispness in the air when I let the dogs out to the yard. Last night got cold. The sun and the clouds are sharing the sky for now, but rain is predicted for tomorrow so the sun will disappear behind the grey clouds. There is a wind advisory, but nothing is moving.
I officially recognized the change in seasons yesterday. I packed summer away and brought out my fall and winter clothes. I seem to be heavily into flannel.
My father was always a football fan. He and my grandfather used to go to the Thanksgiving Day football game in town although none of us ever attended the local high school, including my parents. It was tradition.
We stayed home on Thanksgiving. My father watched football. My mother worked in the kitchen. Dinner was usually around two. Our kitchen, when I was young, was small. The six of us couldn’t all fit around the table at the same time. I think that was when my mother first started standing and eating at the counter.
When we had a house of our own, we always ate in the dining room. The table was festive. We all could fit around the table.
Thanksgiving dinner seldom varied from year to year. We knew we’d eat turkey, stuffing, canned cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and maybe corn, kernel corn. My father got asparagus, from the can. It always looked wilted and bent over in the middle. He always ate the turkey leg. I can still see him in the mind’s eye munching on that leg.
After dinner my father would take his piece of pie into the living room where he could watch the football game. He was a loud fan. He’d yell at the TV and complain about a play or a misplay. He was a Giants fan.
I always loved supper on Thanksgiving night. My mother made open turkey sandwiches awash with gravy. I’d add stuffing and cranberry sauce to my plate. That would be our first of many meals of leftover Thanksgiving dinner.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
November 21, 2023 at 6:59 pm
Hi Kat,
Today was mostly cloudy with a high temperature of 59° and with a breezy north wind.
A couple of weeks ago we had a hole in the wood surrounding the chimney, which was near the roof, closed up by our handy person. Yesterday, we heard some noises coming from an inside wall. This morning we were looking for the noise and we found it. Inside of our hot water heater closet was a squirrel and screamed. My spouse then opened the door to the garage along with the outside garage door itself. She also closed the laundry room door. We were convinced that the critter had escaped. I went to lunch with a friend. During my lunch, my wife texted me that the squirrel was now in our dinning room. My spouse left the back door open to the patio and I think that the squirrel has permanently left the building. 🙂
I like Thanksgiving of all the winter solstice holidays. It used to mark the beginning of the holiday cornucopia of spending money people don’t have on gifts. However, that now starts right after Halloween. I understand why Chanukah is held in December because it’s the Festival of Lights. The Romans moved Jesus’s birth to December to coincide with Saturnalia which was celebrated during the winter solstice. Strangely, the Muslims don’t have a winter solstice holiday. I wonder how merchants in the Middle East and North Africa make it through the year economically without a winter holiday? They probably just overcharge their customers during the rest of the year. 🙂
November 21, 2023 at 10:02 pm
Hi Bob,
I had uke practice tonight. It was cold outside by then, down to the high 30’s. We’ll be back up to the 50’s tomorrow. The weather is odd.
I haven’t ever had a squirrel, but I did have a racoon in the chimney. He kept trying to pry up the fireplace flue cover. Another time I found a bird in the cellar. I still don’t know how he got there. I had a bat upstairs. I opened all the windows, and he went out. My brother always said if you live on the cape you have mice, and I did. I could hear them in my eaves. My cat used to be a mighty hunter, but he was too old by the time of the mouse onslaught. I used a have a heart trap and caught 15 mice.
You are the most cynical of my friends.
November 21, 2023 at 10:34 pm
We haven’t heard anything so far, so we’re assuming he or she took the opportunity to escape. Yes, I’m somewhat cynical but I understand the importance to the economy that we don’t give up these holidays.
November 21, 2023 at 11:31 pm
I’m glad the spawn escaped!
I have always loved Christmas,and that had little to do with presents. In Ghana, we celebrated the joys of the day together. We had few presents, and we didn’t care. We made a special dinner and sang carols. It was filled with joy.
November 21, 2023 at 11:53 pm
Yes, I know how much you love that holiday and that you are probably only one of a small group of people who understand what’s really important, celebrating with friends and relatives.
Enjoy the season.
November 21, 2023 at 11:59 pm
You’d say the same thing about my sisters if you met them, and my sister has passed that to her family, all thanks to my mother!