I love Thanksgiving! It is my favorite holiday of the year. At our house Thanksgiving is all about the 4 "F"s ... food, family, friends and football. And the 1 "B" ... BEER!
It's the only holiday of the year without any major obligations. You don't have to buy gifts, don't have to go to church, don't have to do much but eat lots of turkey, drink lots of beer and pray that the Lions win.
I have alot of great Thanksgiving memories. When my Mama was alive and well we used to go over to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a big event. The day before we'd go over and pull out her good china, which was stored in the bottom drawer in a hutch in the dining room, and unwrap it from the newspapers protecting it. Thanksgiving day we'd go over there early and help Mama get dinner ready. I remember her putting cloves in the ham. And it was the only time she allowed beer in her house because she needed it for the ham. Tecate. I remember one year she reached into the fridge for a coke and pulled out a Tecate instead.
She actually opened it and took a drink before she realized it wasn't soda and then tried to split it with me and my cousin...both of us underage I might add.
I always dreaded those Thanksgiving dinners....now I kinda miss them. In the beginning we all sat at the dining room table, but as our family got bigger they eventually designated the table in the kitchen as the "kid's table" I never got to sit there. As the oldest grandchild I always sat at the "adult table" ... usually squashed in next to the wall in the center so I couldn't get out until everyone else was done.
I remember Turkey, stuffing, ham (complete with cloves and beer basting), mashed potatoes and tamales. I'm sure we had other stuff, but that's what I remember. No Thanksgiving was complete without the tamales. The good ones. from Evie's Tamaleria down on Bagley in Detroit. My Mama would order them a couple weeks in advance to make sure we had them for the big day and we'd pick them up on Wednesday. It's something we still do. As do most Mexican families in the area. Just go down to Evie's the day before Thanksgiving and check out the line that usually goes around the corner.
We never watched football when I was younger. Dinner was later. besides, according to my Mama girls didn't watch football anyway. This changed thru the years as we began eating dinner earlier and earlier each year (I often joke that had my Mama lived much longer we would have been having thanksgiving breakfast instead of dinner). My Mama was less strict as the years progressed. I remember not even having the TV on and not being allowed to drink anything until the dinner was over. My cousin has fond memories of sitting and watching the games while having a cold beverage (prolly coke tho and not beer).
When the dinner was over we would clean off the table and doo the dishes and then carefully package up the china again, wrapping it in fresh newspapers and putting them gently in the bottom drawer where they waited to be used next Thanksgiving.
I remember one Thanksgiving where tradition went out the window. My mom, brother and sister went down to Kentucky to celebrate with my Mamaw. It was the first Thanksgiving without my Papaw. He had passed away in the spring. I didn't go with them. It made me too sad to think of spending Thanksgiving down there without him. (looking back it was a very selfish move but at the time all I could think of was how I'd see him everywhere and how was I supposed to enjoy the holiday when I'd spend most of it crying). So I had plans to spend Thanksgiving alone at my mom's house.
I had set myself up with some instant stuffing, instant mashed taters and a small turkey ham. Dinner was almost ready when I heard a knock on the back door. I hid everything (don't ask why...to this day it doesn't make sense to me) and opened the door. There stood my Mama, Papa, Joe and Angie (my 2 cousins) with sacks of White Castles in their hands. Seems my Mama decided not to cook a big dinner for just the 4 of them so they were going to just go out to dinner. Well, they didn't plan this in advance, so most of the restaurants were closed. And the ones that were open you had to have a reservation for. So they drove around looking desperately for something. The only place open was the White Castle on Fort Street and Pennsylvania. So they loaded up on sliders and sides and came knocking on my door to share their Thanksgiving feast.
Surprisingly it's one of my favorite Thanksgivings. We laughed and joked and had dinner and then went out to Briarwood to see a movie. Stargate. My grandparents loved it! Afterwards it was off to Mountain Jack's for some coffee and pumpkin pie. I'm sure years from now when asked to recount my favorite memory from Thanksgiving, this will still be number one.
Kevin and I took over Thanksgiving dinners around 2002. Our first year together we had to cook the dinner at my mom's cuz she had gone to pick up my sister from Virginia so she could be home for the holiday. It went over well. The next year we had a minor setback thanks to the judicial system and weren't allowed to celebrate together, but 2002 is when my family got wise. They realized Kevin wasn't going anywhere and decided to put the family chef to work. We had the tiniest kitchen but Kevin, with all his expertise, somehow made it work and put out a feast. Turkey with all the trimmings, ham, green bean casserole, tamales (from Evie's of course), and the crowning glory...pumpkin cheesecake. We fed both families and had leftovers for days. It was a great Thanksgiving.
So we've been in charge of it every year since. Until this year. We decided one major famly event (the wedding) was enough. There were many other reasons as well which I won't get into but involve other family members and some hurt feelings on my part, and of course the big reason was that my brother's wife is due anyday now with their first child (and my parents' first grandchild). So in the event she decides to pop it out today no one will feel bad about leaving our feast.
It's about time for kickoff for the Lions game. The Turkey just came out of the oven and the fixings are getting ready to go in. In case you're wondering the menu today is:
Roast Turkey
Spiral Sliced Honey Baked Ham
Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
Turkey Gravy
White Castle Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole
Mashed Sweet Potatoes w/ Caramelized Bananas on top
Evie's Tamales
and lots and lots of beer!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!
