Keep the Coffee Comimg

The morning is a delight, sunny and still. It is in the mid-40’s. The air smells sweet. I had a surprise at the bird feeders. A goldfinch has found the thistle. He joins the chickadees, the nuthatches and the titmice dining off my deck. I have to fill those feeders today. The birds are always hungry.

Yesterday was a great Thanksgiving. I accepted an invitation for a late dinner at my friends’, my former neighbors, house. It was a wonderful evening. We sat around the kitchen table chatting, drinking mimosas and eating all the traditional and a few not so traditional foods as my friends are Brazilian. We bemoaned the election as both friends had voted for Kamala. I saved my own dinner for today. I also cooked the turkey, the big one which could feed a small army. I’ll be eating turkey for days. The dogs got the innards. They were thankful.

When I was a kid, my favorite after Thanksgiving lunch was a toasted sandwich filled with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Sometimes it was slathered with butter and other times mayonnaise. My favorite supper was turkey covered with gravy on a piece of bread with stuffing on the side. Finally, the remnants of the turkey became turkey salad and turkey soup. I never got bored with turkey.

We were a game family. We played cards and board games usually at the kitchen table. I remember starting with Chutes and Ladders and Candyland. They were easy so we could move our own pieces, As we got older, though, the games got a bit more complicated. I loved Go to the Head of the Class. The pieces were small cardboard heads on stands, and the board looked like a classroom. You moved on desks from the bottom to the top. A question book was divided into difficult categories so my parents got hard questions. I still have our original game and all the pieces. The question book has yellowed.

The all time best game was and is Sorry. We still play it but with more vindictiveness than we ever conjured as kids. Our language tends to be salty. We keep track of wins and losses. We make fun of the loser. The adult game of Sorry is not for the thin skinned or for the tender hearted.

My dance card is empty until next week. I could make a to-do list, but I’m feeling like a sloth and to-do nothing seems the better choice. I have scheduled a nap.

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.

On Thanksgiving morning when I was a kid, we’d all be sitting still in our pajamas in front of the TV watching the parade. We’d be noshing, as my mother would have said, on tangerines, mixed nuts in the shell and M&M’s, plain M&M’s. I liked the Brazil nuts but not the almonds. The aroma of the turkey would have already filled the house. My mother woke in the early morning to stuff it and put it in the oven. Every year it was a huge turkey, good for days of leftovers. My mother filled it with sage stuffing, still my favorite. While we watched the parade, my mother stayed in the kitchen peeling vegetables. Potatoes were always first, and there were plenty. My father’s asparagus, canned asparagus, was put in a small pan on the back burner. My mother peeled the small pearl onions for creamed onions, one of my favorite vegetables. Niblet corn and sometimes carrots filled out the menu. All four 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. I remember the heat and steam when my mother opened the over to baste the turkey with butter and steal a bit of the crusty stuffing, hers by right of being the cook.

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 but especially for these memories filled with family. 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 but still a celebration. I’ll wear my turkey earrings, sumptuously dine and maybe even get dressed.