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Friday Family History: Thanksgiving Memories

"Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go. . . " Growing up, some years we did go to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving, and other years, the grandparents would come to our house.  


 


If we traveled, we always sang on the way.  One set of grandparents lived only 30 minutes from our home, but the other set lived 2 hours away.  We had to cross the mountains to visit my dad's folks, so we loved singing, "Over the River and Through the Woods," as well as "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain."  

Once we were all gathered together, the women congregated in the kitchen, finishing up the meal preparations.  The turkey had gone in the oven early in the morning, and the smell wafted throughout the house.  

Early in the afternoon, it was time to eat.  We gathered around a heavy-laden table, and as we did before all our meals, we had a blessing on the food.  The feast consisted of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce (the jelled kind, straight out of the can), yams (Grandma made them with marshmallows on top), black olives (we always wore them on our fingers), a yummy fruit salad (again, a marshmallowed treat made by Grandma), celery sticks filled with cream cheese, rolls, corn, and probably other foods I'm forgetting at the moment.  We ate, and talked, and laughed, and ate, talked, and laughed some more.  

After the eating trickled to a stop, we cleared the table.  Leftovers were squeezed into the refrigerator, and dishes were washed.  About the time that clean-up was done, we would break out the pies.  Dad took after his dad, always preferring the apple pie.  Most of the rest of us would ask for "a little piece of each," and would enjoy apple pie with ice cream, and pumpkin pie (or Mom's yummy pumpkin squares) with a dollop of real whipped cream.  

The day was filled with lots of conversation, and a feeling of warmth permeated the house.  

What are your Thanksgiving memories?
 
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Thanks for good memories, and occasions to give thanks.

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Comments

  1. Your Thanksgiving meal was much like the one on our table, but all of my holidays were spent at home because of the responsibilities of the dairy farm. Only one of my grandparents was alive, and he lived hundreds of miles away: he spent one Thanksgiving in my home.

    Over the years, my sibling's families gathered at the family farm. The children had a separate table in the living room because we could not all sit at the kitchen table. It was a loud and happy time.

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  2. One of the best things about Thanksgiving for me was seeing all the cousins! I had tons of them and it is the one thing I wish I could give to Amara when she come to Grandma's house. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  3. I love your Thanksgiving memories...so wonderful. The song in the background is awesome, too. I haven't heard the "real" version of this in forever - only the one in the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special!

    Hurray for pumpkin pie!

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