"Great Memories!"

Next Thursday is "Thanksgiving Day"; a time for all of us to remember and reflect on all the things for which we are thankful. Today, I would like to reminisce about my early life and how I remember "Thanksgiving" as a young boy. When I was nine or ten, Thanksgiving started about two weeks before the actual day itself; school started telling us about the first Thanksgiving that the Pilgrims had, and we had plays and pageants. We made "hand turkeys" and dioramas. I remember mounds of colored construction paper and globs of "Elmer's Glue" used in making a cornucopia for our table at home.

I remember the "shopping trip" to "Taylor Street" with my Dad to an Italian market called "Conta Savoy", where nobody spoke English, but it smelled amazing. We would buy what seemed like a ton of Italian meats and cheeses, breads and rolls, and marinated olives and mushrooms, all to be consumed at one meal. My Mom would find a turkey the size of an ostrich, always over twenty pounds; it would have to be big enough to feed the entire clan. The family dinner included all of us: Mom, Dad, Nona, my three sisters and two brothers, my uncle Sam and his family, my Aunt Pookie, and cousins James and Susan, my Great Uncle Salvatore, my Great Uncle Louis and Great Aunt Mary; this was quite a crowd!

The cooking started the day before the holiday. My Grandmother was in charge of the candied sweet potatoes (the best in the world), and the pasta course; it wouldn't be an Italian home without a pasta course. The house smelled of meatballs and sauce, the entire first day, and it made all of us "drool" in anticipation of the coming meal. My Dad made the antipasto of Italian meats and cheeses, Genoa salami, pepperoni, and mortadella, surrounded by imported provolone and Romano cheese; this could have easily been a meal by itself. My Mom was in charge of the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. She would get up about 4:00 A.M. on Thanksgiving morning to get started; our meal started about 2:00 P.M. , Mom worked the hardest of everybody, but never complained!

Family started arriving about 12:30; it was about to become "party central" as we all greeted each other with hugs and kisses, and laughing and jokes. My Dad and my Uncle Sam were the "clowns" most of the time and they were a "blast". Nona, Uncle Louis, Aunt Mary and Uncle Salvatore would sit together and talk about "the old country"; some pretty interesting stories were exchanged. The kids ran crazy everywhere; laughter was resounding, and our families were celebrating being a family.

When the food finally was placed on the table, all the proper "oooh's and ahhhhs" were sounded. I sat at the right hand of my Dad, as was custom in an Italian house, and we would exchange comments on how delicious everything was; he would steal food off my plate! The meal took about three plus hours, before we ate any desert, which was usually cannoli, homemade cream puffs and assorted Italian cookies. I'm feeling full just writing about this stuff.

About 10 o'clock everybody was ready to leave; "care packages" were sent home with each family; there was a lot of hugging and kissing again. As we said good bye, we talked about seeing them all again for Christmas, where we once again would celebrate being a family.

I hope all of you who are reading this have such memories to recall and enjoy. Please have a great Thanksgiving Holiday!


(This is my last blog until a week from Tuesday; I'm taking a little family time off!)