Thanksgiving

When I was a little girl, Thanksgiving was a special time for our family. We lived on a farm in between Dallastown and Red Lion, Pa. - just off West Broadway, up on a little hill. My mother would get up early in the morning and cook all day long for our family. Soon our kitchen would be redolent with the aromas of all the tasty foods Mom was preparing. Thanksgiving meal was at Noon, and all of the family came to our house.

I was there, of course, along with my brothers and sisters, our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The fire was always burning in the fireplace, creating a welcoming and homey atmosphere in our small living room as the family arrived.

There were so many of us, nearly twenty, that we had to spread out over two rooms! The kids' table was set up in the kitchen, and the 'family table' for the adults was in the formal dining room. Mom would have candles lit, and a beautiful centerpiece on the main table. All the fancy dishes came out for this meal. Mom's best china, crystal glasses, and silverware.

Before we ate the meal, everyone would hold hands and say grace. A thanks for our blessings and our food. Grandpa would carve the turkey to get us started.

As we ate our meal of ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, rolls and cranberry sauce in the kitchen at our special table, we kids could hear the adults in the dining room. There were always lots of conversations going on at once. Everyone was animated and excited; everyone had stories to tell. It was one of the few times of the year that the entire family was together. It was a special time.

In between talking, everyone managed to stuff themselves. With dinner, everyone had iced tea or tomato juice to drink. When it was time for dessert, the adults would have coffee or hot tea, and the kids would have milk. Dessert was a wonderful array of delicious treats. There was pumpkin pie with whipped cream, pecan pie, and cherry pie. The entire meal, from start to finish, sometimes took an hour or two to eat!

After the meal, the whole family would go out together for a stroll. We would walk around Red Lion and just take in the beautiful autumn before it turned into true Winter.

Eventually the years passed by and soon enough I was married with children of my own. My husband and I lived on a farm in New Freedom, PA, and it was my turn to have the family over for the holiday. I would get up early in the morning - just as my mother always had, and cook all the foods my family loved to eat. Some things were different. Of course we had the usual spread of my youth - but now I didn't make ham. I made additional corn, lima beans, and creamed onions instead.

My husband would light the fire in the fireplace, and I would place the candles around our house. I had Mom's centerpiece from her Thanksgiving Day dinners, and I had the fancy dishes and glasses of my own. I never separated the kids from the adults. The whole family, yes - all twenty of us, ate at one big table. I tried to recreate the homey atmosphere of my own childhood, but also add the new traditions of my husband's family.

We would have our parents, our own children, the boyfriends, the girlfriends, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins.

Instead of saying a prayer before the meal, we went around the table and each person would say what they were thankful for. A lot of us would have tears in our eyes when we were through - but they were happy tears, and everyone laughed.

Now, instead of my grandfather, or my father, it was my husband who carved the turkey. To drink with the meal - soda and iced tea.

It was still a special time for the family. It seemed just like the old days of my youth. Everyone was talking at the table, loudly. So many excited and animated conversations were going on at once that I would just sit back and smile. This was my childhood all over again, only now my family - and I was the Mom.

Dessert was much the same: pumpkin pie with whipped cream, pecan pie & cherry pie. But I also served cake and ice cream, along with a few other types of pies. We still had coffee, hot tea, and milk with dessert.

After dinner, some of the family would go out for a walk together. Some would stay behind. Some of the men would watch football together, while the rest went outside to talk. Often, the women would sit around the kitchen, drinking coffee and talking while the kids played.

Eventually, the years passed on again. Now it was my daughter's turn to host Thanksgiving. Generations still gather on this special day for good food and good times. Most of all, we gather to be together; to show our love and our thanks for everything good in our lives. We're thankful most of all, for our family.

Halloween!

Halloween was a really scary time when we were youngsters.

We remember trick or treating on Halloween night in the dark. It seems like it got much darker back then than it gets these days. Houses were farther apart in the country and we walked very far to get a bag full of candy. Sometimes were given candy, nickels or dimes, cookies or pieces of cake, apples or pears, and even magazines when the folks were out of everything else.

We started trick or treating about a week before Halloween and went with our friends, usually not accompanied by parents. Folks would actually invite us into their home and try to guess who we were underneath our masks. Sometimes we wore only a " false face" as a costume and sometimes we wore old clothing and dressed as a hobo. We would wear old sheets and dress as a ghost, but NEVER a purchased costume. Weeks before Halloween we would gather ears of corn and shell them into a bucket in order to have corn to throw on Halloween night. When we felt really mischievous, we would upset an outhouse with some poor, unsuspecting person inside it.

There were occasions when folks would throw a bucket of cold water on us to keep us from throwing corn or soaping windows. The only decorations we had in our homes were jack-o-lanterns and maybe a shock of corn.

Halloween parades were an important part of Halloween and occasionally we would wear a costume and participate. We were mischievous, but not vandals. And we had lots of fun!