Sunday Before Thanksgiving

Sarah and Kate are both here.

It's cold outside, and there's a fire in the fireplace.

Charlie left today and will return on Tuesday, bringing his Mother to our house for the T'giving holidays.

We're all hoping we don't get Ellie's germ. She continues to be a very sick little girl. If it doesn't subside this afternoon, then it's probably the flu virus instead of just a basic virus and will likely continue for 2 or 3 more days. I got my flu shot last week, so did Steve and Charlie. It won't kick in to protect us until 2 weeks after the shot. Tomorrow is one week - so - hope noone gets the flu. Ann hasn't had her shot and was cautious about it - although pregnant moms are supposed to get it. She was just nervous about that and had questions.

Luke is at my house now - just to get him out of the house where Ellie is. He's so noisy and she feels so bad - it's hard to keep him still and quiet - of course. So - he came to my house this pm and enjoys the attention he gets from Sarah and Kate - although nothing compares to being with his Daddy. He is absolutely crazy about Steve. So cute!!

The Red Berries on the Nandina are such an encouragement as we head into the dormant season. I'm also glad that the two biggest holidays are during nature's gray season. Color is so abundant for Thanksgiving and Christmas - and the warmth of indoors feeds our emotions as we live through this winter.

What does your Thanksgiving Menu look like?

Ours:

Turkey Breast, Dressing, Gravy, Squash Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, Smashed Sweet Potatoes(grown on Skyline Mountain - so sweet), English Peas, Butternut Squash Casserole(New - I sampled it at Williams Sonoma - so good!) Frozen Cherry Salad, Spiced Peaches, Cranberry Sauce-Jellied and Whole, Homemade Yeast Rolls, Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, and Pumpkin Trifle.

We'll have 6 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 1 = 13 folks

I like to set the table really pretty. I have already ironed the cloth napkins - I really, really like cloth napkins and the tablecloth. We'll use a hodgepodge of china and silver. The whole experience is first, visual and scented - in the kitchen - and then the table - dressed like a lady and man - but then we eat it and the tastes are so good.

MY MEMORIES OF THANKSGIVING

It was always at my grandmother's house, Ella's house - or it was at my Aunt Mary's house. (here's an aside - houses - they are named by the lady of the house - my grandchildren refer to this as Near's house, or their house is Mommy's house -awwwww! sad for the men who work and labor over those mortgage payments - and it is named as belonging to the mommy or grandmother) Okay - so at my grandmother, Ella's, we all piled in - we're not talking huge rambling farmhouse - but if I described her house - well - that's another post - I LOVED her house - and she made it so attractive - yet it was small - compared to today - but we had 21 to begin with, but soon it became 24, and then 25, but then it would vary - it was always a large crowd. When we had our Thanksgiving at my Aunt Mary's - well - she lived "out". It was a farm, but not like you might imagine - not a typical farmhouse - very ranch style with style - it was nice - and a huge front yard - HUGE - So - the ladies who were doing the meal - they'd send all the men and children out to the front yard to play "football" or "baseball". I didn't really enjoy sports but I got in the mix and was always put "way out" - somewhere so that I could do the least damage - and I considered it a very social time with whomever I was standing the closest to. I was tolerated. :-) The men, as I recall, were soooo serious about it all. Didn't get that!

Well, that's my T'giving memory - but it was always that, year after year, large crowd - so much food - so good - and cold weather, usually, for South Alabama

Thanksgiving just meant a lot of people, a lot of fun and laughter and noise - everyone talking - and eating - Ella's house didn't have the huge front yard, but she had a great "side yard" - again, another post. I can see it all - and I wish I had pictures - But mostly we stayed inside - with a fire - It was just fun in Ella's house - and all my cousins and aunts and uncles were fun - to me - I don't know if in their adult world there was stuff going on - but I didn't know about it. We all got along and loved each other very very much. I did sense that at the end of the day the moms were really tired and ready to go home - so we did.

That's my Thanksgiving memories - and now I am making some more.

Monday Morning

I seem to have a very small group of folks who read my blog.

I could almost name your names.

For those of you who might stay at my blog for any length of time, reading - you might begin to hear on my November playlist several Dolly Parton songs. I was roaming playlist.com on Saturday and I ended up listening to what the site had of Dolly's songs. I am a Dolly Parton fan. I love the way she sings. I am not a fan of country music, ...but...there are some country music artists whose voices I love for their passion and the twang and it fascinates me. Country music usually gets too doleful for me and woebegone - and hardknock stories - Hard for me to relate -

When I was a child there was a lot of music in our house - but it was classical, traditional church hymns, or show music or band music - I guess - it was whatever Daddy was working on with the choir, the glee club or the band - but then very early I know that Mary Ann's favorite 45 was a big band song - Pennsylvannia 65000 - she loved it and one day while she was at school - I was at home, sick - and accidentally broke it. I remember looking at Mother and having such an "OH MY GOSH!" feeling. I think she found Mary Ann a replacement. Mother and Daddy had come out of the Big Band era - so we still had a good bit of that kind of music - probably, from their younger years. We did have the soundtrack from My Fair Lady - from Broadway, I guess - I saw that old cover last week when I was in Evergreen - anyway - random thoughts - but what we never had was even a hint of country music - BUT - I remember there were some country music shows on TV in the 50's - and I remember liking one of them - but I also remember being in the minority in my family of 4 and Mother teasing me a bit about liking it.

I said all of that to explain why there are so many Dolly Parton songs on my playlist - if anybody cares - which it's likely that noone is really interested - Playlist is so fun to browse through. I think I've said that before. One can listen to songs from way back and conjure up very old memories.

Just want to say a few things about this week before Thanksgiving Week. First - much cleaning and organizing to be done this week. Yipes! Second - I made a fruitcake yesterday. I want to say, on behalf of all the fruitcake people out there - I LOVE FRUITCAKE - a good one - storebought fruitcakes are not real fruitcakes and no wonder so many bad jokes are told about FC. Not every recipe for fruitcake is a good one. I have a really really good recipe - but yesterday I tried a new one - out of a Paula Deen Magazine - I'll know in a week if it's good. Fruitcakes have to be made ahead and allowed to "age" a bit. A week isn't usually long enough - and they can be frozen and kept in the freezer for the next season - I have some of two fruitcakes from last year - in my freezer. I didn't plan to make one this season - but ran across this recipe and wanted to try it. If anyone is a fruitcake lover and wants my best recipe - I'll share it. If this one from Paula Deen is good enough to recommend - then I'll do that too.

Okay - so I have to search and find a letter that Mother wrote me - a few years back - after I shared with her and Mary Ann my very good, very enhanced fruitcake - which I had painstakingly made and nursed through the aging process - She wrote me this letter and I typed it and can't find it in my documents - so I must find the "hardcopy" to add to this post. I'll go ahead and post what I've written here - and then edit by adding the letter - after I put my hands on it. This letter is a treasure of mine and it's as if Mom laid her aged hand on my head and said, "You are Blessed". She didn't know it had that effect on me - it was just a sweet note that she was kind enough to write - Let me go find it. I love it. Be back in a minute.........

I found it!

Dear Elizabeth,

I never thought it would be my daughter who could make a fruit cake that tasted like the ones Granny used to make - I've told you, I'm sure, what that meant when she made those fruit cakes, I can't remember how far ahead of Christmas, but long enough that we had these containers, like round cheese hoops, I think, anyway, she'd put them in those things & cover with some sort of cloths & keep them soaked in wine or something - Anyway - it was one of those things that I looked so forward to. It was "beginning to look a lot like Christmas" -- That was before there was such a thing as a "store bought" fruit cake. If there was, I sure didn't know about it.

Not much to report - Mary Ann & I enjoyed going to Greenville & eating at "Cracker Barrel". Then that afternoon we visited with Rachel & her boys at Flo's - Those boys are so fine & so good looking & so tall. After leaving there we went over for a short visit with John & Martha. It's always good to see John & Martha.

I think I've covered everything, which isn't much - we'll keep in touch about all the coming events - Hey to everybody -

I love ya'll -

Mom

This was written to me Christmas season of 2000. I was delighted to have conjured up for Mother, memories she'd felt as a child.