Thanksgiving Day Memories
- By Tim/Tom/Dad
Although my memory often tricks me, my memories of Thanksgiving Day are divided into 3 periods. First is growing up in Dearborn, Michigan. My recollection is of Aunt Boo, Uncle Tom and Tamera coming over and of us having a traditional 'feast'. I always thought the dried corn made us unique. In the later years, I always liked mom's hor'devours, err whores devours, err orderves, err SNACKS before the main meal. The crab meat and cheese spread melted on the English muffin…yummm. The smell of the turkey roasting as we waited for dinner to be served always heightened the anticipation.
I also remember going to downtown Detroit, to watch the parade, and going to Hudson's. I think they had a whole floor of 'toys'. We would walk through the displays and wait in line, to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what we wanted for Christmas. I think we took the bus downtown, although I could be mistaken.
I don't recall going back to PA for the holidays often, although I always smile, as I recall the wonderful Thanksgiving 'Sparrow' (a very small turkey for all of us!) Nana (my dad's mom) had for us…
My second sets of memories are of with Martha, Matt and Erica. We almost always spent them with Martha's family. Usually it the clan gathered at Martha's mom, but in the later years, Martha's siblings alternated where it would be. We also had the traditional feast, with a couple minor differences. I liked the Waldrof Salad and a very nice tradition was the saying of a German Thanksgiving Blessing, which we said while holding hands. Although, even after all those years, I'm still not exactly sure how it was said, or what it means (though I'm sure Erica does!).
One year, Martha and I grew a couple pumpkins, which we made into a couple pumpkin pies! I don't think we ever had any success growing pumpkins after that first year though! By the way, I never realized you could make pumpkin pies from REAL pumpkins, I thought the filling had to come outta the cans. Other than that, I don't recall contributing alot to that dinners, although we may have made homemade bread once or twice.
The final "period" are the Thanksgivings since the divorce. The first year was particuarly bleak, Matt went to a friend's house, Erica went with Martha, so I was home alone. I recall that Thanksgiving feast vividly, I burned the carp outta the popcorn! The next year, Leta came up, and I prepared a traditioinal T'day dinner for her, with all the fixin's. Thank goodness it all sorta worked out! Anyway, it seems like I am still working on establishing new traditions and new ways of celebrating and sharing the day. J
I emailed my mom (Ginny Griffin/GrannyGriffin) and asked her about some of her recollections….here is her response to my email .. (although to be fair to her, she had no idea that I was planning on publishing her response!)
Your Thanksgiving memories are right. Yes' we did have the Donahues for dinner and dried corn was a tradition. That is called "shaker corn" by some folks in Penna. I don't remember taking a bus but we did go to see the parade in downtown Detroit.
The men always watched football before and after dinner.That was a source of irritation for me!! As to memories when I was growing up it was not a big deal as it was during the depression and the men usually went hunting, There was always plenty to eat but I don't particularly remember turkey. That must have come in the 40's after the war and things and money were more plentiful.
Leta's memories:
I have many memories of Thanksgiving. While growing up on Texas’ Gulf Coast, didn’t normally present us with the picture perfect day of “over the river and through the woods” sort of holiday, we normally had lovely fall days, blue skies, with lots of sun….and I remember wearing shorts more often than not, because it was still so warm! We sang that song all the time in school, and I always wondered what it would be like to actually have snow for a holiday, anytime, for that matter!!
Thanksgiving meant family time for us. Being the youngest of four children, and the others all grown with their own families by the time I was 5, meant everyone “coming home” for the holiday. My sister and my oldest brother married when I was 4…no they didn’t marry each other!! My sister had four children and they basically grew up with me and I was more like their sister than their aunt. The house was always full of kids and laughter.
My mama, as we say around here, was a wonderful cook. We always had the traditional baked turkey with cornbread dressing, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes…and all the “fixin’s”. None of us were much into pumpkin pies, so she never baked those, but she did bake everything else it seems. Each of us kids had a favorite pie…and so she would bake our favorites. My sister Sue’s favorite was cherry, my brother Ron’s was coconut cream, my brother Wayne’s was pecan, and mine, was chocolate, of course!!
Probably one of the most memorable Thanksgiving days I recall is Thanksgiving, 1965. My brother Wayne had just completed Marine bootcamp in San Diego, CA and we were anxious for his return and excited that it was happening for Thanksgiving. His plane arrived early that morning, and I recall going to the airport with my father, and running out on the tarmac to greet him. (Boy, have times changed!!) My sister and her family and my other brother and his family were all there and we had a great dinner, and truly felt thankful for what we had. After dinner, during “pie time”, Wayne announced that he had been given his orders and assignment, and that he would be shipping out to Vietnam and would need to get back to San Diego on Christmas Day. I was only 8, but I knew what was going on in the world with the war, and I felt very frightened. My mother, the strongest woman I have ever known, put on a happy face and she expressed her gratitude for what we had and for the weeks that we had to share with Wayne before he left. Several years later, we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving again in a truly grateful way, as Wayne had returned safe from the war several weeks before. It is a time I won’t forget, and I do try to remember how grateful I am for all that I do have.
After marriage, Thanksgiving was still the time to “come home”. Ray’s parent’s lived less than 10 miles from my mother, so we shared families at Thanksgiving. My family would all meet at my mother’s and have Thanksgiving “lunch” and we would eat and eat and eat until we thought we would pop!!! And then, Ray and the girls and I would head to his parents for Thanksgiving Day “dinner or supper” and once again, so his mother wouldn’t be offended…we would eat and eat and eat. By the time Thanksgiving night got here, I was so sick of turkey, I never wanted to see it again…at least until Christmas!!! My father had passed away several years before my children were born, so I think Thanksgiving became an even more important time for my mother and us. My sister’s children, who were all basically the same age as me, were married and had families of their own by that time as well….and Thanksgiving was still the one time that we made sure we were all together, no matter where we all were, or where we all had to come from….Thanksgiving happened at Dippys! (a name Stefanie gave my mother when she was about 2 and it seemed to stick!! )
Thanksgiving was always a special time for us….family time. I believe the girls have felt that way too…it’s always been their favorite holiday. Though we only lived several hours away, again it seemed as if that was really the only time that everyone was able to get together at one time. Our families have all sort of become complacent, strewn apart, whatever since the divorce and the death of my mother, and we are all making new traditions and memories, remembering the old, but enjoying the new and making new beginnings.
If you would like to add your own recollections please email them to me at tgriffin@voyager.net
and I will try to get them posted.Click here to return to Main Page
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