Thank Goodness

Coming in the door after a half day at school and the kitchen counters are full of all the delicious things we are going to be making for tomorrow’s family dinner. Mom is deep into making the stuffing for Thanksgiving. “Grab a snack Andee then I need your help.” I throw my books in my room and head back to the kitchen. Since there’s celery on the table, I take a stalk and fill it with peanut butter. “How was your day,” Mom asks as I sit there watching her cut Wonder bread into bite sized cubes. “Good,” is my one word answer. Truth is it was not great. I’m not a big fan of junior high and can’t wait for next year. Maybe high school will be more fun.

“I’m excited for cousins to come tomorrow,” I tell her.

“Me too, but there’s a lot of work to do,” she says as her head scans the room for all the different projects that need done. I finish my celery and peanut butter and wash my hands.

“Start choppin’ the onions please,” mom says.

“Oh mom, you know I hate choppin’ onions,” I whine as pathetically as I can.

“Okay, you do the celery and I’ll do the onions,” she tells me with a smile on her face.

I am more than happy to do the celery. It’s bad enough being in the same room when onions are being chopped. That is until they get put in the pan with the butter. Then they smell amazing. We’ve got the onions and celery sauteing in the butter, the bread cubes drying in the oven, and oysters frying in a small cast iron skillet. They are disgusting, but dad loves oyster stuffing. All we need is the smallest pan we can find for it because he’s the only one that will touch it.

Mom shuts off the vegetables and lets them sit while the bread cubes are cooling also. I go out and get the biggest bowl we’ve got from the cellar. The only time we use this bowl is for making Thanksgiving stuffing or during canning season. Otherwise it sits upside down on the top shelf in the cellar.

We toss in the bread cubes and mom starts working her magic with the spices. She adds a little bit of this and a lot a bit o’ that. Salt, pepper, some green stuff and more green stuff, then the sauteed vegetables and melted butter. She mixes it all up with her hands. It’s really quite magical to watch her work. She tastes the mixture then adds more of whatever is missing. When she gets the flavor to her liking, she adds in broth to moisten the mixture. When she feels it’s just right, we fill one 9x13 buttered baking dish and the rest is for stuffing the bird. Except that little bit she sets out for dad’s oyster dressing. She chops up the oysters and mixes it with her bread mixture, puts foil over it, and sets it in the back of the fridge. Thank goodness she didn’t ask me to touch the oysters. I’d much rather be washing the dishes we’ve dirtied so we can move on to the pies.

Mom says we need a break before we get the pies going. I know that means she needs a nap and is going to fall asleep in her chair for a little bit. I check out what’s on tv and decide Family Feud is my best option. Mom starts breathing heavily and in no time at all is snoring lightly. I turn the tv down lower so she can sleep. After about 20 minutes dad comes walking through the kitchen door needing another cup of coffee. Dad is never quiet and easily wakes mom up. She gets up out of her chair and heads back into the kitchen. I finish my show and get back in there too.

Mom’s working on the pie crust so I get out all the things for the pumpkin filling. Even though I don’t need it, I use the giant bowl cause I’m super sloppy and it’s just easier. I love doing this part of the pies because these are my favorite spices: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, pumpkin. I take my time to smell each of them before spooning them into the mixture. Last year we tried using pumpkin puree from a pumpkin we cooked ourselves. Let’s just say that is a bad idea. Good grief. Just buy a can of pumpkin already pureed for 79 cents. By the time I get the filling ready, mom has the crusts ready to go. Two pumpkin, one apple, and one crust for a chocolate cream.

Once the pies are baking, we get the bird out to stuff it. This bird was a jerk. We raised it, along with two of its siblings, and they strutted around this farm like they owned the place. One day I was walking up to talk to dad in the shop. He saw me coming and ever so slowly headed my way. I just stood there and watched him until he started to full on run at me. Feathers were flying up and down in the air and he started gobbling and gobbling. The bumpy, red wart looking skin on his neck was flying. It is frightening because that stuff is just weird.

I run to the shop and fly in the door. Dad looks at me like what’s your problem. “That mean old tom turkey is chasing me,” I said completely out of breath.

“Andee, that bird is way smaller than you,” he says but couldn’t keep a straight face and started laughing at me.

“It’s not funny dad; he is mean,” I told him.

“Well, you don’t have much longer to put up with him. He’s for dinner next week.”

“Thank goodness,” I say and peek out the door to see if I can get back to the house without running into those stupid turkeys.

He turns out to be a nice big bird and as mom slathers it with her homemade butter and dots it generously with pepper and salt, I can’t wait to eat it. I hold open the legs while she shoves in the stuffing we worked so hard on. It is full to overflowing, but that is perfect. That’s the part I like the best once it’s cooked and super crunchy.

Dad comes in and is wondering what’s for dinner. We can’t believe it’s gotten so late and hadn’t even thought about dinner. With such a huge meal planned for tomorrow, we decide it’s a pancakes and bacon kind of night. Once dinner is in our bellies and all the food put away, we crash in the living room. Doesn’t take mom long before she is snoring again in her recliner. She doesn’t even make it through Wheel of Fortune. The rest of us watch TV for a while but I just want to go to bed so I can wake up in the morning and watch for the cousins driving up the lane.