Thanksgiving.....the tempting aroma and wonderful sight of the cracklin' cornbread being taken out of the oven and placed on the wooden work table in the kitchen - the child eagerly awaiting that first taste!  She remembers the dressing always being made in the long, grey, speckled enamel pan. 

          Thanksgiving.....most years there was a big fat hen and if lucky, perhaps a duck - and always sweet potatoes, minced pie, pecan pie and the traditional pumpkin pie - and, of course, sweet iced tea.  These are the foods remembered.

          Thanksgiving.....a time we felt so lucky to be together - just our little family...Mama, Daddy and me.  And thanks was always given to our great God - so thankful for a home in which to live, food always on our table, clothes to keep us warm and love for one another - how lucky can one family be?  We all had each other.

          Thanksgiving.....as the child grew older, she wrote plays to perform for Mama and Daddy at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  If she was lucky, she could find enough neighbor children to play the different parts; some years, her dolls had to stand in for those parts, with her reciting their verses.  Mama and Daddy were always the perfect, attentive audience.

          Thanksgiving.....upon entering junior high school, she could now write the plays for her classroom - always finding enough kids to perform for the teacher and classmates.  Elaborate costumes of crepe paper were made for the Native American Indians and the Pilgrims.  It was great to be able to act and direct without having to use non-speaking dolls!  This was a wonderful way in which to celebrate Thanksgiving.

          Thanksgiving.....the little girl marries her sweetheart, moves to Amarillo and remembers her first Thanksgiving so vividly.  Expecting her first child, her neighbor from California invites her and her husband to spend their first Thanksgiving with them.  They asked her to just make the pies and everything else would be provided.  Her Mama had always made the pies back home.  She'd never done this before but, of course, she would give it her best attempt.  Her part in Thanksgiving had always been to write and perform.  Now, she was really being put in the spotlight.  Back then, one could purchase sticks of pie crust - so, she beat and beat the crust, filled the pans and prepared the fillings.  No one had ever told her that the more the crust is beaten, the tougher it will be!  Everyone raved over the pies ... but she knew they were the toughest she'd ever eaten.

          Thanksgiving.....with her own little family now, she learned how to cook a real turkey and make her own dressing from scratch.  Her sweetheart's father loved fruitcake, so she always made the cakes early so they could "ripen" and she could mail them to him and to her daddy, in case they didn't make it home for Christmas.  Her prized dressing recipe came from the local newspaper, always made with biscuits, cornbread and toast, quite different from the cracklin' cornbread dressing her mama used to make, for she could not purchase cracklins where she lived, nor did she even know how to make it.  And she learned to make cherry pie, as that was her sweetie's favorite.  In the early years of their marriage, they always had LeSeur sweet peas, home-made mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, baked sweet potatoes, fruit jello and Pillsbury crescent rolls.  Most every Thanksgiving, they always invited friends to join them in celebration and giving thanks, as they were always so far from home back then.  In their traveling from one military base to another, if it be at holiday time, they were blessed with these same friends who invited them to their home to share the day with them.

          Thanksgiving.....the menu changed somewhat throughout the years, with her preparing her children's favorite foods.  Her children grew - with them wanting to help her prepare the festive meal.

          Thanksgiving.....now - her little family has all grown up with families and lives of their own.  Her mama and daddy are gone.  She misses the time when her mama lived with her and her family.  She misses the times Mama always cut up the celery and onions for the dressing - those were times when her mama was unable to prepare the feast, as she had so long ago.  It was easier now to prepare the food, being blessed with the more modern conveniences.  But she and her mama worked together in the kitchen, with Mama sitting at the little kitchen table, chopping the food with her own precious hands, just as she always had throughout the years.

          Thanksgiving.....she misses the times of the undivided attention Mama and Daddy gave her as she "performed" her plays.  She misses the old, warm kitchen, the big black stove and the cracklin' cornbread.  She misses Mama at the kitchen table.  But she has these wonderful memories, living vividly in her mind.  She works towards building memories for her children and grandchildren - being hopeful they might look back on their Thanksgiving times with much love and warmth.

          Thanksgiving.....so much to be thankful for - wonderful childhood memories - good times with friends and family - a country in which to live with freedom of worship - still being able to thank God for home, food, clothes and more than anything else - a family that she can love and still be loved.

~ Thanksgiving Pages

~ MeMa's Holiday House ~ Table of Contents