5 October 2007
Did you get enough to eat? Thanksgiving at Grandma’s House
Posted under places beginning with: L; Lima; Ohio .
These memories of Thanksgiving in Lima, Ohio come to us from Christine Smith. You can read more of her tales on her blog at ‘Thoughts from the Penalty Box‘.
From the time you stepped into the house “So good to see you, do you want a snack?” Until the time we left “Just take some of this pie with you, oh, and don’t forget the pretzels” my Grandmother provided a moving feast. She took personal affront if someone went more then 5 minutes without eating or drinking.
From the time I was very small, my memories include Thanksgiving at my Grandparent’s house. My cousins Sherry and I would hover around the turkey when it came out of the oven waiting for Grandpa to carve the huge bird. We waited like impatient dogs, for the scraps of skin that Grandpa would give us. “You are going to make them sick” one or more of the Aunt’s would say, but it never deterred Grandpa or us from sharing this ritual.
Dinner was always served in the basement of the house. The adults would sit around the large wooden table that would hold 16 adults. There were two kids’ tables, with a definite pecking order involved. Although it was an honor to be at the 2nd table, that table was also closer to the adults’ watchful eyes, so it was more difficult to do the experience that my cousins came up with. We would start by burning hair, then corn, until Cousin Bobby would start putting his finger through the flame. This adventure usually ended abruptly when someone knocked the candle over or the adults would start smelling the burning.
After we ate, there was about a 1/2 hour respite before the second wave hit. The candy boxes from Fran Farmer came out and we were urged to take a few - more then a couple, but less then 4. The ice cream would soon follow, for those who hadn’t gotten enough of the pie. It would be about 2 hours later that supper would be served - another copious feast of turkey and ham.
With the football games over, we would all hunker down in the living room to watch “Willie honkies Chocolate Factory” while Grandma passed out the caramel corn balls.
We would stagger out of the house, laden down with supplies for the long 1 hour trip home. My grandma believed in the scout motto of “always be prepared.” Heaven forbid, we should have a pang of hunger during the ride home.
