Today is a quiet day. The weather is lovely with sun, a bit of a breeze and a temperature in the low 50’s. Yesterday’s dinner was wonderful. I even have leftovers. I officially started the Christmas season last night by watching It’s a Wonderful Life. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen that movie. I watch it every year, the same with A Christmas Carol. When watching that last movie, I can say the dialogue along with the characters.

Inside I am young. I am always amazed when I can’t do something I’ve always done like carrying a weight of sorts or even walking a short distance. When I look in the mirror, I wonder who the old lady with the wrinkles is looking back at me. If I were a character in a Stephen King short story, I’d look behind the cabinet for that old lady, and she’d be there lying in wait.

When I was a kid, I knew great-grandparents, one on my father’s side and one on my mother’s. Once in a while we visited my great-grandmother in East Boston. She lived in a narrow house with three floors. She lived with one of her daughters, Aunt Mae. My father’s mother was another of her daughters. Every time we visited, she gave me a fifty cent piece. I always wondered why we didn’t visit more often. My mother’s grandfather, my great-grandfather, was scary. He had dementia, but I was too little to understand that was why he yelled and even spit at me sometimes. He’d sit in the living room on a rocking chair beside the furnace. I used to run by him propelled by fear. I always wondered why we visited so often.

My dance card is empty until next week. I have my usual uke practice and lesson, and we have our first December concert. We’re now playing Christmas music. I love Christmas music and am already listening to it on the car radio. I always sing along.

A friend of mine died yesterday, a funny, sweet guy. It is so very wrong.

Today is a melange of posts from Coffee’s past Thanksgivings. Some posts you might remember, but they are so a part of my Thanksgiving memories they need to be here. I remember and miss dearly my mother and father. These memories keep them close.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish you all a day filled with family and good friends. As you sit around the table enjoying a good meal and each other, think of all your gifts and blessings and give thanks.

I remember the smell of the kitchen while the turkey cooked. I remember being shocked when I was a kid to find out the stuffing was not in the turkey’s head. The kitchen windows were steamed from the heat of the oven, and my mother would open the back door to cool the kitchen. All four stove burners had pots filled with vegetables. I especially remember one pot because I think my mother had it forever. The pot had a dent and a black spot on the side which never disappeared. It usually held the potatoes. 

We watched the Macy’s parade while still in our pajamas. We noshed while we watched. I remember tangerines, M&M’s and mixed nuts in the shell served in a special bowl. The nutcracker was thick silver colored metal and looked a bit like scissors in having two sides. I always thought the walnuts were the hardest to crack. I liked the Brazil nuts but not the almonds. I’m still not a fan of almonds.

Befitting the occasion, we sat in the dining room. The table always looked lovely covered in a holiday tablecloth and set with special dishes. I can see my father at the head of the table. He loved gravy and mashed potatoes. He loved the canned cranberry sauce. He loved asparagus right out of the can. My favorites were creamed onions and a special squash dish, a recipe from my aunt. The table groaned with dishes. Passing those filled dishes around the table took some maneuvering with the table so tightly packed with food.

My father ate quickly so he could get back to his football games. The rest of us sat at the table to finish eating. Soon enough, the table emptied, and my mother and I tag-teamed for the cleanup. I cleared the table, and she loaded the dishwasher, and we both cleaned the kitchen. After everything was cleared, we brought out the pies. The always pies were apple and lemon meringue. Sometimes they’d be blueberry, pumpkin or sweet potato. My father went right for a huge slice of apple pie with cheddar. I had lemon meringue.

I am grateful today for so many things. I love my family and my friends who have become family. I hold my Coffee family close. We have never met but that’s no never mind. You don’t need to be related or even have met to be family. I am so thankful for the life I have been lucky enough to live. Today I’ll miss family and friends. It will be a quiet Thanksgiving. I’ll wear my turkey earrings, and I may even get dressed.