Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving...a gathering...like no other...a tradition that bonds one another...bringing us all to the table...for a bountiful feast...and just a little bit of pumpkin pie with whip cream on top, if you still have room...of course...

When I think of Thanksgiving, I especially think of my Mom...Sure, this was her sure-fire way to kick it up a notch in the kitchen...but she always, always managed to throw together such a vast array of hidden little talents...into action...starting around mid-November...

See, my Mom, Frances, was notorious for making up a knock-down, drag-em-out, your-not-going-anywhere-til-you-get-this-done, Things-To-Do-List, that had to be reckoned with, before even thinking of throwing the bird in the oven...Just think of it as a Spring clean-up, meets odd jobs only a dispicable mind could conceive, with the additional measure of whipping up a collosoll feast, for a huge, huge crowd of at least 35-40 people, year in and year out...

It was the time of the year, where she hauled out the good china, where she got somebody to polish the silverware, and made every square inch of the house, sparkle and shine, in a radiant glow...Well, maybe that radiant glow came in after we sprayed some funky stuff on the dining room chandelier, that made it glisten, in a transluscent rainbow of colors...

That damn list had to be 6 pages long and some of the things on the list, even were written in my Mom's shorthand, a bunch of un-readable Chinese scribble that held some secretive matter, no one except my Mom could take on...You are getting it right, a downright, unfathomable, set of tasks, just for this single holiday...a list that seemed endless to us kids, holding our breath. as my Mom would rattle off a chore, and all of us ducking, to avoid, one of the more dubious tasks...

But eventually, one by one, my Mom would cross another thing off that list, and the 6 page list, became the 3 page list, then dwindling down to 1 page...And as we hit that last page, my Mom and sisters would hit high gear, in the kitchen, making up cherished holiday goodies, which were way beyond, mouth-watering...My Mom loved to dazzle everyone with her infinite knowledge of every single recipe...whether it was the special toll house chocolate chip cookies, or her complex stuffing recipe...the intricate madness of bammm!!!...going from one dish to another, so quickly, so effortlessly, was mind-boggling...

I'll just throw this out there as I remember it...My Mom's famous stuffing recipie...First, you poured out, about 6 packages of Brownberry bread crumbs, into 2 very large pans, next she would pour on the crumbs, a good measure of College Inn Chicken Broth...followed by some melted butter...Then we had to chop into tiny little specs, about 3 cups of white onions and about 3-4 cups of very fresh, very crisp, celery...Then with her own hands, my Mom would knead this concoction. mashing it all together, all the time, generating a rather sweet, pungent smell, of all of the ingredients combined...Finally, my Mom would dash a bunch of fresh crushed sage leaves, thyme, and a little poultry seasoning, all about...The stuffing, then, was good-to-go...Of course, it smelled so irresistable, even in its raw form, that everyone tried to grab a handful...My Mom, would have to slap our hands away from the stuffing pan because once you had a little, you wanted to have alot.

And all the wild recipes, were rather long, multi-layered, inventions, only she could come up with, that would propel an ordinary recipie, into something, spectacular, out of this world. My sisters would all stand around in amazement, as my Mom, could catch each of them, on the verge of messing up a step, quickly stepping in, and making things just right...

And then came the turkey...I always felt bad for the big, 22 pound, pinkish Turkey, all aglow, after someone had washed it down, after it thawed out under the running water in the kitchen sink, then someone would pull out all of the innards...At that moment, you kinda realized, you were eating something that was alive, just a few weeks ago...My Mom would rub lard all over it...so that the skin would become a crisp, orange hue, as it roasted in the oven, for 3 or 4 hours, the next day...We'd throw the bird back onto the top shelf of the refrigerator, late around midnight, having finally accomplished almost 90% of the LIST at that point...

It was such a sense of overwhelmingness, that all you could do is collapse on a yellow chair in the kitchen, at that point and draw a huge sigh of relief...Off to bedtime, because the big day was only a few hours away from hitting the final phase of preperations...Where was my Dad while all this was going on...Well, he was usually the one, who carried in the huge bird and of course, he got to unleash his carving skills on the Sunbeam electric carving knife...just minutes away, from the actual meal...It really was my Mom's big holiday to shine, so he stepped out of her way...

I can remember laying out some layers of newspapers, out on the floor in the basement and peeling a huge bunch of white Idaho potatoes, as I watched the Macy's Parade...I remember I'd have to switch over every 10 minutes to CBS, to check if it was the segment of the live Thanksgiving Parade from Honolulu, Hawaii...At that point, my Mom would scurry down to watch the 10 minute segment, as the floats gently preceeded along amidst palm trees swaying and hula girls, all about...It was kinda ironic to us, that these Hawaiians could actually be celebrating a Thanksgiving feast without the cold & the snow...like we had, outside our house, in Chicago...Sort of freaky, for us...I must admit...

Another delightful dish made at the last moment was my Mom's super-duper cranberry relish. It basically was Ocean Spray whole berry relish...then my Mom would add freshly squeezed orange pulp, a little lemon juice, and a bunch of finely chopped Washington MacIntosh apples...Wow...it all just came together and was totally awesome...All of my Mom's little funky recipes were just so good and we just were so psyched because we knew we only had one moment to get a chance at enjoying these delightful dishes, only this once, this special time of year...

Then the people would come...and come and come...filling up the whole house, top to bottom. There would be a big contingent in the basement all about...even at the bar...which we never used except for maybe, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays...I can remember my brother Joe whipping up some Tequila Sunrises, a new Tequila and orange juice and grenadine concoction, with some crushed ice, added out of our new, funky little olive green, ice crusher, to boot...Another, hip 70's drink was Harvey Wallbangers which I think had a little bit of this Italian liquor called Galliano...Of course, I'd be amazed at my brother's agility to whip up all these drinks to perfection, but he was damn good ...The bar was in full gear as my brother-in-laws and brothers all would talk about just about everything, patiently waiting for the call upstairs to the dining room...

Then there were all the kiddies...Gosh, just a flood of kids, jumping all about, down in the basement, chasing deliriously after each other...some of them falling down hard, crying, then jumping back up, and running away, forgetting what happened because there was just pure chaos with so many little ones, all in a frenzy...There was Maureen's kids...Charlie, Michelle, Thomas & Patrick...my sister Kathy's kids...Eddie, Mike and Pat...my sister Patsy's kids...Colleen, Carrie and Kate...my sister Joan's kids...Bridget & Johnny...my sister Karen's kids...Pete, Jimmy & Katie...my brother Joe's kids...Joey, Kevin and Sean...Me & my brother Danny were still teenagers at the time, but as you could see...the house was a rockin', don't bother knockin'...

Finally the moment would arrive, my Dad had been summoned to carve up the bird and we all kind of slowly streamed up to the dining room, one by one...almost all of us drooling with delight. After all, as good as some other Thanksgiving's go...my Mom put on a show-stopping event with every square inch of the dining room table meticulously displayed with her fine china and all the fixings of the meal, landing all about the table, hot, ready to be devoured...

It was a very transfixing moment as someone would say grace and then in only a matter of seconds, mayhem of people all grabbing at all the food...loading up their plates, as high as they would go...My Mom's special Turkey gravy, poured over the mashed potatoes, was a big hit, as well as the bird, which usually was quite hot, moist & juicy...The cranberries also were a big hit that people always seemed to forget about until half-way thru their meal because there was so much...But the sure-fire hit was my Mom's unique, tantalizing, stuffing...there just was never enough...it was a hot commodity that went fast...You had to get ahold of that stuffing bowl and just pile it onto your plate, never looking back, at all the ungodly amount of food you were about to be stuffing into your belly...

As the meal winded down...some of the kids would wander up from the basement, down where all kinds of card tables were flung together for the kiddie feast...They all were pretty oblivious to the special food prepared that day...They were just panting and panting away, trying to get their second wind, before resuming their onslaught of terror...only seconds away...

The times, themselves, just pure magic...All these people were in their prime, for the most part, and the unique gathering bestowed us all with some wonderful memories of unforgettable food and unforgettable fun...all clinging magically together...on 2724 W. 86th Street...almost 20-30 some years ago...

Hats off, especially to my Mom, who never took a bow...never took a break...never really thought about anything but throwing the best darn Thanksgiving feast, she possibly could imagine...It was year in, year out, like clock work, every single year...Just suddenly here...then suddenly gone...Just a blip of time that seemed to fly by...way, way, way too quickly...

But I do remember those times rather vividly...and rather thankfully...because they were some of the best times...anybody could possibly have...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE...
...(especially to my dear Mom & Dad)...