”How powerful is the spell of home!”
Well, the weatherman was right. It did rain yesterday, and the rain continues today, but I have no complaints. All rain is welcome.
Today is busy. My inner sloth is screaming in protest. I have to leave shortly to take Nala to see Santa. She is my only dog without a Santa picture so I’ll remedy that today. She has a list of what she wants, but if I were Nala, I’d be a bit worried about possibly being on the naughty list. The other day I had to do another trash pick-up in the yard. She was so brazen she picked up some trash from my pile and ran with it. I had to trek to the way back of the yard where she had left it. That sounds like the naughty list to me.
When I get back from Santa, I have only a short while before I have to leave for a uke concert in Eastham for the turnip festival. We are playing bluegrass.
On the days before Thanksgiving, my mother was busy getting ready for the big day. Because she didn’t learn to drive until she was in her 30’s, my mother had to wait for my father to take her grocery shopping. Friday was her usual shopping day. I remember my father lugging in all those bags filled with the usual groceries and also the fixings for Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey was so large it took up the whole bottom shelf of the fridge where it defrosted. That took days. My mother would put a few groceries on the counter and on the floor because there was no room anywhere else.
The baking started a few days before Thanksgiving. My mother always made a few pies. For my father, she always made apple. He loved it with a slice of cheddar cheese. Lemon meringue was my favorite. I know it isn’t a traditional Thanksgiving dessert, but my mother baked it for us. Sometimes she made pumpkin, blueberry or custard.
Part of the preparation was my mother would hunt down and wash the serving dishes she only used on holidays. I remember the glass pickle dish and the dish she used for celery. A wooden bowl with crackers and picks was for the assorted nuts. I found the same type bowl years ago at an antique store and bought it. I always put it on my table right near the pickle dish I bought.
It is always before Thanksgiving and Christmas when I most think of my mother who made each of those holidays so special. She was in the kitchen for days. I used to be her sous chef. We’d chat the whole time and listen to music. Those were the best times.
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November 23, 2024 at 12:47 pm
Hi Kat,
I’m amazed at how accurate the weather folks have become during our lifetime. My iPhone can now predict when precipitation will begin and end, and it’s amazingly accurate. Sometimes, I will look at the radar on my iPad to see if it’s raining outside. It drives my wife crazy because I have become too lazy to look outside the window. When I started flying in 1965, the U.S. Weather Bureau claimed an accuracy of 80%. I never believed it because experience had proven a lower percentage.
The week before Thanksgiving was not that busy for my mother because she wasn’t a baker. She would buy pies, cakes, and bread from the supermarket. However, Thanksgiving morning was a bevy of cooking.
We always had the traditional turkey and the canned cranberry sauce, which I still like today. My better half has purchased the fancy stuff, but she always has a can of the real cranberry sauce for me. 🙂
This year, Chanukah begins on December 25th. on the Gregorian calendar. Because the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, the Rabbis add a leap month every few years so that Passover remains in the springtime. The Muslims also use a lunar calendar, but they don’t correct it so that Ramadan moves throughout the year.
Back in October, my wife went to Costco and they had Christmas stuff all throughout the store. Retailers realize that Black Friday could be extended backwards to Halloween and forwards to New Years. The consumers want low prices, so businesses will give it to them year round. 🙂 I used to joke that if we didn’t have Christmas, the retail industry would have to invent it. Amazon has created low prices year round.
November 23, 2024 at 8:45 pm
Hi Bob,
It rained all day today, sometimes heavily. Tomorrow, though, we get back the sun and temps in the 50’s. I checked the weather everyday in the paper. As you said, it tends to be quite accurate.
My mother always baked for Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I was an adult and going home for Christmas, I made all sorts of things like bread, cookies, date nut bread and a cinnamon coffee cake. My mother’s favorite cookies were my orange cookies.
We also had the canned cranberry sauce. One year my mother made an orange-cranberry sauce but most people ate the canned one.
Where I lived in Northern Ghana was heavily Muslim as were many of my students. They had to fast during Ramadan from dawn to sunset so they were less attentive in class, being hungry and all. I remember the celebrations when Ramadan was finished.
I tend to do most of my shopping in person at stores. I do order a few things from catalogues but lesser known catalogues. I love finding special gifts for people.
November 24, 2024 at 2:10 am
My better half went to the grocery store today and found precooked turkey thighs marked down half price. The breasts were full price. She bought the two packages that they had. Whoopi! The only part of the turkey I like! The dark meat. She also bought stuffing, frozen mini Brussels sprouts, canned cranberry sauce, and a Dutch Apple pie. All we need is now are some mashed potatoes, and we are all set for the holiday.
November 24, 2024 at 3:33 am
I ordered my meal from a local restaurant. It will have 2 appetizers, dinner with all the fixings plus apple crisp for dessert.