I used to help my Mom when I was younger get ready for the big turkey dinner on whichever occasion it might be; Christmas, New Years, Easter, or Thanksgiving. She had lots of practice starting in 1949 when she got married to my Dad. I remember my Aunts on both sides of the family cooking wonderful meals too. It meant hours in the kitchen, rolling out pie dough, creating delicious fruit and cream pie fillings (from scratch I might add, no box pie fillings), making the bread dressing with all the great smelling spices, stuffing the bird and putting it in the large roaster and into the wood burning oven (in the early years) and the electric oven (in the latter years) for several hours and the fragrance that gathered intensity as each hour passed made our mouths water. Peeling those root vegetables until the pot was full of white round uniform morsels that would turn into steaming mashed potatoes. A selected vegetable, homemade buns, and lovely brown gravy to finish off the perfect picture. It was time for the feast when the good dishes were brought out of their special storage spaces, polished to a high shine, placed in order on the table, surrounded by cutlery so stainless that they were steel and if you looked you could see your face in them. In those days, dishes and cutlery were washed in hot soapy water and rinsed in hot water and dried with a cloth tea towel so there would be no stain or blemishes (that one might see today caused from the dishwasher cycle). The small gold rimmed fancy china used for pickles, cranberry sauce and olives were placed strategically in the middle section of the table so that adults could help kids “not” help themselves! Also fancy cream pitchers, sugar bowls and fancy salt and pepper shakers would find their place among the fine china. Mom would look over the table and call the family to the kitchen. It was time to dine!
Mom handed that mantle over to her 5 daughters and 5 daughters-in-law in her senior years and became a guest at one of their tables. I was so proud to carry on the tradition and for the very same occasions. I inherited my Grandmother’s set of Crown Ducal Florentine exquisite dishes made in England and I use them on every one of those turkey/ham dinner occasions. Unlike my Mom I love crystal glasses, and over the years had bought a few pieces to fancy up my dinner table. A holiday tablecloth was added to bring color to the dining experience. I have mastered the sequence of events and it brings great joy to accomplish such a feat/feast. The day before I bake all my pies, then the next morning, I cook the turkey/dressing and ham, bake fresh buns, peel, cook and mash a dutch oven full of potatoes, make the gravy, cook the veggies, set the table with my antique dishes and add all the pickles, olives and cranberry sauce, slice the turkey and ham, and just before high noon, my guests arrive, and dinner is served. Then we have all afternoon to relax and play games and by supper time, haul out the food again for a “topper upper” before they all go home. I can’t take all the credit for the morning preparations, my husband and son always help get things ready for the table. It’s so awesome. Remembering their warm wonderful hospitality, I think I join my ancestors, sisters and sisters-in-law in saying, I absolutely love cooking and serving a turkey dinner!
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