Thanksgiving

My older brother played football in high school so those four years, Thanksgiving dinner was not at my grandmother's but at our house. There were some things we could count on at Thanksgiving: all three of my grandparents would be there, cider, the relish tray, and the comment my maternal grandmother would make at the end of every meal "Pete (my father), you will have to roll me back to Boston tonight". We loved it. We also loved that because our kitchen was so tiny, it was impossible for us to help clean up. So everyone under age 20 got to watch TV with my grandfather until the all clear was rung and dessert was served.

At the time a cheese tray was not fashionable so Mom kept to the tradition of having a "relish tray". I'm not sure where the name came from, but a relish tray was really a celery tray and it wasn't really a tray but a divided dish that was filled on one side with celery stuffed with cream cheese and sprinkled with paprika, and the other side filled with black olives. I remember we all put the olives on our fingertips, which for some strange reason was allowed. It could have been because it was a tradition that was irrisistible for small children and both my grandmothers knew something about children, having both been raised in families of more than 10 siblings.

Mom bought cider from a farm in town we drank that with our turkey and all the fixings. Dessert was pie, apple, pumpkin, and mincemeat. Dad would put the leaf in the dining room table which then took up the entire room. We didn't have enough chairs so a bench on the side of the table took care of at least three of us.

Thanksgiving at my house is going to be quiet and small this year. Just one brother, my mother, and my daughter. Last night I called my mother to ask her to bring along her electric knife. We chatted about Thanksgivings of yore and then she said something unexpected I won't soon forget. Mom asked if I remembered a coat she bought me one fall - moss green tweed with an attached scarf to wear on Thanksgiving day when I was six. "Yes. It itched", I replied. "Well", she said, "I keep seeing you in that coat tonight". Nothing could be sweeter to have with the turkey and all its fixings, the cider, the pies, and that marvelous and simple relish tray with the celery and black olives.