Best wishes, my friends and family, for the Holiday Season and always.
Been an eventful year, good, bad and sad. We lost my sister, Karlyn, this year and it was heartbreaking, but I am hopeful 2026 will bring with it lots of joy and good cheer.
As we approach Thanksgiving, bittersweet memories have often been on my mind. I remember my father always stuffed the turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas morning, and I would wake up and head to the kitchen to help. He always let me chop the onions (go figure) which wasn't my favorite, but I was just happy to be there helping. I was one of those kids who'd rather be helping mom and dad than hanging out with friends - most of the time. I learned to bake from my mother, who learned from her mother, and I ended up being a pretty good baker. (Maybe not so good about other things - like the time I made chicken with Russian fruit sauce. After trying to wash off the sauce, my boys tossed it in the garbage and headed to McDonalds.)
When I was growing up, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners were always turkey and all the fixings. We had turkey, Parkerhouse rolls, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, pickles, olives, a vegetable, and always a Danish dish, sweet and sour red cabbage, and of course pies, pumpkin, apple and cherry. A veritable feast!
Then dinner was on the table. Dad was a prankster and harassed anyone who sat next to him so it was a fight to see who wouldn't get stuck near him. My sister Elena was always graceful about being stuck so she ended up near him most of the time. The blessing was said and then noise began. Our dinners were always full of noisy discussions about anything and everything.
Every dinner cleanup included my mom, my two sisters and me singing while we worked. Mom had a pretty voice and we three girls ended up with very reasonable voices so it was a special time. "Silver Bells" was a specialty of ours and it still is a favorite of mine.
Decorating for Christmas at my house takes place after Thanksgiving, though I enjoy the early decorators' efforts. A bit of joy in a troubling time. I'm working on a stocking for my new DIL, Melanie, and my little great granddaughter, Avril. You know you are officially a part of my immediate family when you get a stocking. LOL.
If you are looking for a gift for the holidays, my books might just be the trick. Here's a link to my author page on Amazon:
Anyway, my best to each of you and lots of love and warm hugs coming your way.
No comments:
Post a Comment