Okay, readers. It’s time to get my Thanksgiving Blog Blitz rolling! I’m not only celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday, but the recent sale of my fourth book! Yee-Haw! Eight Seconds is a novella and will be released in 2009 in one of the Ellora’s Cave, Flavors of Ecstasy anthologies. I’m not sure which volume yet, but I’ll keep you posted. Eight Seconds does take place in November and mentions Thanksgiving, so I’ll be blogging about it later in the week. Here we go!
Thanksgiving marks the official start of the holiday season, and since I love history, I’m starting the week with some Turkey Day Trivia. See how much you remember from history class.
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621.
But, it wasn’t declared an official holiday until 1789 by President George Washington.
Many states observed Thanksgiving, but not all, and on different days. President Abraham Lincoln, faced with the trials and tribulations of the Civil War, was looking for a way to unite the nation and gave his Thanksgiving proclamation in October 1863. Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November would be observed as a day of Thanksgiving.
During the midst of WWII, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, looking for a way to give a boost to the shopping season, moved the holiday to the third Thursday for the years 1939, 1940, and 1941. The idea didn’t go over so well and Congress passed a resolution in 1941 decreeing Thanksgiving would always fall on the fourth Thursday.
So, ever since then our nation has been setting aside a day for us to give thanks by indulging in way too much food, taking a nap, and watching football on a weekday afternoon. Sounds like a perfect day. Well, maybe. For most women it means even more stress, work in the kitchen, a house full of relatives, and a mountain of dishes. Oh, how many Thanksgivings my dear mom worked to put a magnificent meal on the table. Bless her. She did so in style by not only preparing mouth-watering food, but by adding touches of the Autumn season with candles and fall silks to decorate the house and table.
One of my fondest memories of Thanksgiving is of my mom and her festive holiday apron. She’d get up bright and early that morning and with the apron officially tied in place, she’d get that bird in the oven. For the day, whether it matched or not, that handsewn apron, with its horse and sleigh print, was a part of her outfit. And you know, that trusted, well-worn kitchen helper wouldn’t leave her waist until the last dish had been washed and put away that evening. Did she complain? Nope. She did it out of a profound love for her family. Seeing her hustle around the kitchen with that faded, old apron is one thing I will miss big time this year. What I wouldn’t give for one more day. Maybe it’s time for me to pull that apron out of the drawer and carry on the tradition. By golly, I think I’ll do that. For mom.
So, what fond memories do you have of Thanksgiving? I’d love to hear them. Remember, every time you post a comment to my blog this week, your name will go into the drawing for an autographed copy of Studs for Hire: Woman on Top! Good Luck!
7 comments:
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. One of my best memories is when I was growing up and my older brothers and their families (who lived hours from us) would come to my parents for the holiday. It was always wonderful when every one got together.
Congratulations on the sale, Sherry!
I always associate Thanksgiving with my grandmother. She was the only grandparent I had most of my life so it was always a treat to go to her house. She was a smart, inventive (conned us grandkids into helping with the dishes by calling it--and making it--a party) and very generous. And, she was a marvelous cook.
Probably the most unusual thing is that she never fixed (and we never had) turkey growing up on Thanksgiving (until we visited some of the relatives for a second or third TG dinner). My dad hates turkey/chicken/fowl to this day, so we never ate it. But, I've had ham, meatloaf (Gran made killer meatloaf! always a treat!), liver loaf--yes, and I liked it--roast beef, venison and more.
My favorite Thanksgiving food is the mashed potatoes. And hers were the best!
I miss her and those Thanksgivings.
Julie Miller
www.juliemiller.org
Strangely enough, I can't remember any particulars of Thanksgiving get-togethers. It's mostly all just a blur of food and drink, which is what I am fond of. LOL
Deidre
Thanks for your comments, everyone! I'm glad you stopped by. I've put your names in the drawing.
I think it's so interesting how we have such unique experiences and memories of family holidays. Some of us have the more traditional side with the turkey and all the trimmings, while others have the not so traditonal on a national level, but in your family it's very traditional. Who says you have to have turkey? We did, but then Thanksgiving and Christmas were about the only times during that year that we did have it. So, for us it was a treat.
As for drinks. Oh, yeah we always had a bottle or two of wine chilled and ready, and the fridge was always stocked with beer. Although I don't ever recall anyone over indulging in the spirts. Just the food!
I have three older brothers, and even though they've always lived close, I can totally relate to them all coming home for the holiday. In spite of the fact I always took a fair share of ribbing and teasing because I was the youngest ;-), they were good times.
Mom was an excellent cook also. She spent hours making the meal and sometimes was so tired that she didn't even enjoy the meal that much but, as said above, she did it with love and for her family. Dad was a big help in the kitchen also in later years. Mom sewed pumpkins and corn cobs from material and stuffed them. The corn cobs were all different colors and even had the tassle on them and she'd have them out for decorations.
My best memory of Thanksgiving is from when I was like 6 years old. I was tired so I went and laid down in one of the bedrooms and my older cousin walked in and didn't know I was in there so he just let one rip and walked away!!!! So I said geeze thanks ________ and he was soooooo embarrassed you could hear everyone laughing. He stills blushes to this day when it gets mentioned.
Thanks for posting robynl and tamic! That is so cool your mom went to so much trouble to make the decorations, robynl. It's the stuff like that really makes for special memories we treasure later in life.
And tamic, your poor cousin. He'll never live it down! I bet he dreads family gatherings.
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