Wednesday, November 22, 2006

THANKSGIVING THE WAY IT'S MEANT TO BE

My-T-Fine pudding.

Now, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Thanksgiving just isn't like it used to be. It used to mean something man. It used to mean Sunday morning on a Thursday, complete with rolls 'n everything. It meant black olives on your fingers for appetizers. Yeah. It was once-a-year shrimp cocktail and "The March of the Wooden Soldiers" and screaming with laughter and repeating "ooooooohhhh the boogie man."

It meant my mother in a dutch oven apron (okay, it was the '70s) saying, "John, get them out of here before I kill someone!" and my Dad taking all six of us to the beach before the "one" my mother killed was him. It meant coming home to a warm house that smelled better than it did all year long, and a table set with my Mom's wedding china and stuffing in the helmet bowl and apple cider fresh from the cooler at the local Dairy Barn.

Dinner meant frozen string beans, canned cranberries, mountains of mashed potatoes and gravy with those gross little giblet things my mother insisted on chopping up and throwing in there.

Desert meant pie. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. (My dad actually ate that I think; or I'm having another Dickensian acid flashback). Or pudding. And Ready Whip. Had to have Ready Whip.

We fought over who would wash and who would dry. My Mom and Dad sat and smoked and drank cocktails the way parents should.

Then we sat on the couch, chair, or bench, or laid on the rug and watched TV -- probably in black 'n white.

Now that's a Thanksgiving to remember.

3 Comments:

Blogger fu said...

pretty close but the beach thing I'm pretty sure came later on. what did they show thanksgiving at night? Wizard of Oz ? chitty chitty bang bang? Miracle on 34th street? March of the wooden soldiers was on during the day. The stuffing wasn't in the helmet bowl that was for whipping cream.

5:58 PM  
Blogger ifyaskme said...

It was alwaays Wizard of Oz... I used to have to go to my Uncles house. My brother and I were the only ones who ended up watching it. My cousins were pussy's.

9:13 AM  
Blogger sistasledge said...

The beach definitely came before dinner - and I remember going to church once or twice too - and there was a basket of apples in the foyer of St. Anthony's.

Missed you guys yesterday.

1:55 PM  

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