Now Scheduling Tile Projects for Winter
November 23 , 2023 The Beacon • 13
Memories of Thanksgiving Day preparations shared
My extended family gathered at our house for Thanksgiving Day . Before the big day , there were many preparations . For weeks , maybe even months , Mum had been saving the heels and slices of store-bought bread for making stuffing . They were collected in a brown paper bag that she kept in the kitchen cupboard above our refrigerator .
Several days ahead of the big day , she made cranberry relish , using the meat grinder she clamped to the edge of the kitchen table . I can remember her using whole cranberries , then oranges and sugar .
Our house was cleaned good , and my job was to polish the silverware , which was kept in a flat wooden box with green felt lining .
Mum made pies in advance : apple ( MacIntosh , of course ), pumpkin to be accompanied by real whipped cream , lemon meringue and my favorite , mincemeat .
While the turkey was roasting , Mum worked on the vegetables and other things .
Beside the dining table , there was a buffet , pronounced “ buffa A ” by my younger siblings . On that , besides the good silverware ,
were two or three orange Carnival glass bowls . One held mixed nuts , still in the shell . There were walnuts , pecans , Brazil nuts and one other kind . Beside that bowl was the flat box that held the nutcracker , along with maybe six silver picks . In another Carnival glass bowl were purple grapes Daddy bought as a treat . On Thanksgiving Day , there were two little candles on the buffet that were never lit . They were perhaps 3 inches high — a little pilgrim boy and a pilgrim girl . Did you have those ?
On that special day , our television set was showing Macy ’ s Thanksgiving Day Parade . We could catch glimpses of special floats , but no one spent the day in front of the TV . Besides , for years it was black and white .
Our dining table had all its leaves inserted and was covered with a white tablecloth . That table plus another wooden one and a card table or two were arranged in a straight line from just inside the back door to the hallway that led to the living room . All the tables , of various heights , still had tablecloths . Chairs from all over the house and sunporch were added to those that came with the dining set .
Then Mum ’ s fancy china was arranged at each place setting , as far as it would go . That set was only used for Thanksgiving , Christmas and Easter . The dinner plates were pretty flat and white , with scallops on the edge . There was a picture in the middle , in browns and greens mainly , of an English country scene .
Mum had a set of eight glass goblets that just held ice water . We kids used our everyday plates , which were from Mum ’ s big Homer Laughlin ’ s Currier & Ives Americana set .
Our table had either cloth or extra thick paper napkins . Besides the cranberry relish , there was a special glass serving dish for the cranberry sauce . There was a pink glass pedestal dish that held olives . We had two or three kinds of Mum ’ s pickles in glass dishes .
Mashed potatoes were served in a pale green milk glass bowl . Gravy always
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BF-125364 was in a pink bowl that “ came with the house .” Then we had to have the “ bluckies ,” as I called them : squash and boiled onions , maybe even boiled cabbage or turnips . ( Not really , it just seemed like there were several blucky things — tradition .)
This was in Maine in the ‘ 50s . One of the good dishes was sweet potatoes .
The crowning point of the meal was the turkey , placed on the table in front of Daddy , who said grace and carved the turkey . Most of us preferred the dark meat . Who would want the dryer white meat ? Plates were passed and filled along the way .
After the meal was finished , plates were cleared away . Then desserts were chosen . Grammie Scott ’ s walnut cake was there and maybe another kind of pie or two .
What did the menfolk do while the womenfolk were clearing the table ? I tried
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EXCAVATING / LANDSCAPING ODDS AND ENDS to remember . Oh yes , they went out to the barn to see the deer Daddy had shot and which was hanging inside the upper barn doors .
One of my favorite memories was the tradition of clearing the table and dividing up the leftovers . “ Here , you take some of this ” was often heard . Everyone got to take home turkey and pie . For supper that evening , we would have a turkey sandwich . Surely we had dinner rolls with our meal . I just can ’ t remember them .
Most of the people who sat around our Thanksgiving table are gone now . During COVID my husband Glenn and I stayed home for Thanksgiving , ordering a meal for two from Buehler ’ s but making it special by using the pink pedestal serving dish for olives , eating from Mum ’ s fancy dinner plates and serving something from a Carnival glass bowl — tradition .
This Thanksgiving Day ,
It ’ s Time To Tile !
Now Scheduling Tile Projects for Winter
Bathrooms , Showers , Backsplashes & More !
we plan to go to our daughter ’ s place . There will be 15 of us at a big table , then a smaller one for the kids . There will be no “ bluckies ,” but the mashed potatoes will be served in Great- Grammie Scott ’ s light milky green bowl . Something else will be placed on her pretty serving plate with the handles . The tradition continues .
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