Here in the U.S. we celebrate Thanksgiving this coming Thursday.
As these holidays come along,
my memories skip right back to the Village.
Thanksgiving on School Street had its own music.
You could hear cars arriving at each house bearing relatives. Doors opened and closed, spilling forth children, roasting pans and tantalizing mysterious deserts hiding under dishcloths. Moms and aunts grabbed their aprons and set to….children buzzed and, with luck, got outside for awhile. Dads and uncles went on into the dens to set the afternoon football schedule or taste a bit of Portuguese wine. If you were very fortunate there was at least one grandparent present. My grandmother, Delphina, lived each day, every day with an apron on…so she fit right in. Laughter was the order of the day. Laughter and conversation whose volume rose and fell depending on the subject. All was accompanied by the rattle of dishes, giggles from kids as they sneaked a taste of this or that and previewed deserts that were set aside. Just this morning, my husband and I were speaking of the wonderful taste of those merengue pies, so high they seemed mountains to children, apple pies so moist they melted in one's mouth. My Aunt Eleanor had her special recipe for squash pie….yum. How did they make that wonderful crust from scratch? My Mom's hands moving at the speed of light as she cut the crust and crimped the sides. Sorry, packaged deserts, you lose compared to those!! The smell of roasting turkey as it was then…. Thanksgiving was a riotous festival for the taste buds and the sweet fragrances that tickled the nose.
I give thanks for that now….I was too busy playing as a kid to realize what was happening and that gradually over the years if would all disappear. We went on to have our own families, but those Thanksgivings are what made us the parents that we became, tradition building upon tradition. Beginning with storytelling….remember when ….???
Happy Thanksgiving one and all. May you be making wonderful memories again this year and may those old days warm your heart along with the turkey and stuffing
and may the blessings of the holidays by yours.
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