THE WEEK BEFORE THANKSGIVING is full of challenges and decisions. We often found it more stressful than Christmas purchases and planning. At least way back then we actually got to enjoy our turkey centered holiday before the religious ones began. Nowadays you would think Thanksgiving hardly existed.
Back in the 1950s we literally went over the “brook” and through the woods to grandmother’s house one mile up the road from our farm. My aunt, grandmother, and mother divvied up the food so all brought something, usually their particular specialty. I don’t remember any squabbles over the food and we ate well.
Today we have so many more choices. Should we get a free range organic turkey at $10/lb. or the on-sale store turkey? Would the latter endanger the children or can we all survive as in the past? Should we use store bought anything or does everything have to be made from scratch? I remember one of my jobs was tearing many slices of bread into pieces so mom could make the stuffing, and it was made with real celery, onion, butter and Bell’s seasoning. You could taste all that nice sage. Then it actually went inside that germ laden turkey cavity and cooked in there for hours and not checked with a thermometer. To me, that stuffing was the best and no one got sick. Pepperidge Farms dressing baked in a casserole isn’t bad, but it doesn’t taste as good. Read more…