Thanksgivings Past and Present

Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday.  Coming from an Italian background, celebrations always centered around food.  Turkey was the one food that we probably only ate in my house once a year - my mom almost never cooked a turkey.  Everything about Thanksgiving dinner was my favorite as a child.  I always loved Autumn - the leaves turning colors were always happy memories for me.  I love anything to do with pumpkins, apples, pies and the cinnamon spices of that time of year.  Thanksgiving, like most holidays, was a feeding frenzy with my family, usually celebrated at our row house in northeast Baltimore City.  We probably had one of the smallest houses in the family, but most holidays were at our house.  Everyone brought food, but it was still at our house.  I remember folding chairs being lifted back and forth over fences to share with neighbors whose dinners were at slightly different times than ours.  My mom's family is the Italian side (Fullano/Derenzi), but dad's side (Pilker/Liverman/Ferrar) was always referenced as "German", although in later years there was some speculation that there may have been some Irish.  I was lucky to have many grandparents - on my mother's side, Grandma Rose, Great Grandma Angeline, and Grandpa Lou and on Dad's side, Grandma Helen and Grandpa John (my grandma's second husband, I never knew my dad's dad - he fought in WWI and WWII, but I think that his demise had something to do with women, not war).  We had lots of Aunts and Uncles and cousins, especially on the Italian side of the family and we all lived relatively close, even walking distance to some of them.  We would have a full course turkey dinner (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, greens of some sort, and carrots), as well as pork and sauerkraut (a Baltimore/German thing) and also at least one or more Italian dishes (my favorite was Great Grandma's ravioli, but Grandma Rose's lasagna was fabulous also.  Grandma Helen would almost always bring a Date/Nut Cake, which I love to this day.  Grandma Rose was also a great bake, but would never tell you what she was bringing - it was always a surprise and always really good.  So, we really overdid Thanksgiving food.  It was a real buffet.  No one came to the house without a casserole dish or pie in their hand.  It was the best feast all year!  Although, I don't remember having many leftovers - the food would be parceled out to the various relatives and there never seemed to be enough turkey!  It was funny, the cooking seemed o go on for days, but the meal itself would only last 2 hours or so, but we would talk about it for days afterwards.  Oh to be 12 again and sitting at that table (which some years was a piece of wood sitting on saw horses) talking over all the loud voices, trying all those wonderful dishes and wishing for seconds of my favorite desserts! 

Well, this year was a little different.  First of all, the gathering was very small.  Too many people were sick this year (coughs were rampant), so my cousins all had to have their own dinners, so as not to infect me, so my parents and I gathered for dinner with my sister, her husband and three children.  It was very nice, but a lot less chaos than we are used to!  But also, there was NO ITALIAN FOOD - all because of me and the chemo (red sauce causes mouth sores and acid issues).  We just had the traditional turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, broccoli kind of dinner (that normal people have) and it was wonderful - I ate a little of each dish and was lucky that they all tasted the way that they normally would.  I skipped all sweets - all sweets taste too sweet - so I missed out on pumpkin pie, but aside from that, Thanksgiving Dinner 2009 was a huge success.  It was wonderful not being in the hospital and also wonderful to get out a little and have an appetite and be able to eat.  And this year, my poor sister was pretty much on her own with the cooking (I usually help) an she did a great job - her turkey was moist and delicious!  

Needless to say, lots to be thankful for this year.  I received an email today that mentioned that I was included in a special family prayer at Thanksgiving dinner, so much kindness and generosity has been shown me these last few months.  Sometimes I can actually feel the  gathering of the positive energy around me.  I am  especially thankful to all of my friends and family, each of you have helped me be as well as I am and your continued support will see me through this rather long journey.  Wishing each you many things to be thankful for today and throughout the year!