Saturday Steve and I hosted our first big holiday meal at the Smith homestead. (We moved the Thanksgiving meal to Saturday to accommodate various family schedules.)
I’ve never prepped and cooked for a large Thanksgiving meal while working full-time; it was a whole new experience. The first decision Steve and I made was to forego the nice china this time around and pull out the paper plates. My thought was, “Let’s just have an overtly non-Pinterest Thanksgiving.”
Steve had bought some lovely flowers for a centerpiece and after I got home from work Friday night I just stuck them in a drinking mug and thought, “Hmmm. That will tie right in with the theme.” (Obviously, we didn’t leave them there but it made me giggle to see them.)
Fortunately, Gage and Sarah were able to arrive a little early and Gage rescued the flowers from their non-Pinterest state.
Another view of the flowers and also the prerequisite photo of Sarah and Nathan setting the table together as they have done for so many years. (My camera was acting a little weird but at least the moment was captured.)
Gage also carved the turkey . . .
and Sarah did two relish trays. (Steve is very serious about multitudinous relish fixin’s.)
We arranged the tables a little differently than Ken and Vernie used to do and made a tee instead. Seemed to work pretty well.
We had the Charlotte Ten (my nickname for our immediate family) as well as Steve’s two brothers, Meagan’s sister, her husband, and their two little ones. It was lovely to get to host family members of our family members; Cody and Kristin are always such good company.
Their son, Parker, was just one of the gang, taking a ride with Steve on his riding mower, which is a huge highlight for the grands. They also like getting the leaf blower and chasing each other around with it. The simple pleasures.
I have to admit that I got a little bit frantic on Saturday morning. As I said earlier, I didn’t have several leisurely days at home to prepare and I had a bit of a challenge adjusting to that new normal. To make matters more complicated, Steve was not able to help out as much as he usually does because, as it turns out, he was dealing with other things.
This was his view on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. (The meal was at 1 p.m.)
He had put in new fixtures in the hall bath but quickly discovered that attaching new fixtures to old plumbing is not easy. He had already been wrestling the whole week with installing the new toilet. He had bought it from Lowes but when he got home and got it partially installed, he saw that someone had bought and returned the toilet and had neglected to include certain important pieces when they re-boxed it up.
He had spent several hours during the week running to and from Lowes and the local hardware store trying to find what he needed to finish the toilet and the faucet by the time the meal rolled around.
At one point Saturday morning, he called me to come from the kitchen to hold something up top while he was working below the sink. (Thankfully I did not do to him what I did in this post.)
When I heard him call, I was fighting my own battles in the kitchen. He had peeled twenty potatoes for me earlier that morning and after much searching, I had been unable to find my big potato pot, the only pan in my kitchen that was able to deal with that many potatoes.
I finally decided that the only thing to be done was to divide the potatoes between three smaller pots, which certainly wasn’t ideal but . . . oh well.
The three pots had just been on the stove for just a few minutes when I heard Steve’s call for help.
As I was standing in the bathroom with him diligently doing my helpful duty, I heard a sound from the kitchen I did not want to hear–potatoes boiling over. Sigh.
I remembered a few minutes later that my big potato pot was in the downstairs refrigerator because I had made up the dressing in it the night before. Sigh. Again.
At one point, I had every inch of the countertop filled with every form of cooking detritus and was starting to ever so slightly lose the Joy of Cooking.
But I persevered and with all the wonderful dishes brought in from the rest of the family, we ended up with a lovely feast. (I did the potatoes, gravy, turkey, and dressing.)
It was a little weird being the new Vernie for a big family meal. I got out her (my) silverware case and remembered the four decades I had spent opening up this case for every big meal. (She saved up Green Stamps to buy this silver back in 1956.)
The grands were in charge of writing people’s names on the cups and I had to smile when I saw my cup.
I knew Vernie was smiling, too.
After dinner, we went out to the deck to hang out and be entertained by the Smith Brothers.
As the day wound to a close, I captured these two lovely shots.
Nathan first came to this house when he was three days old.
Hanging out with Dad in the living room where we just had our big meal.
Sarah followed six years later. This is out on the deck where the brothers were singing.
Dana and Jeff (Steve’s brothers) were 12 and 13 when they moved there with their family. We’ve all changed just a little!
What a joy to gather with the generations and know that we were carrying on Ken and Vernie’s heritage.
Yesterday at church we sang one of my favorite songs, “The Goodness of God.” The chorus says,
All my life You have been faithful
All my life you have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
I will sing of the goodness of God.
I’ve mentioned before that the song has kind of become my theme song because of my lung disease and the line “With every breath that I am able.”
But it’s also a song that truly summed up our gathering. Everyone in the Smith clan can say, “All our lives He has been faithful.” Does that mean our lives have always been easy? Not at all. We’ve all walked some difficult roads.
But in spite of it all, and because of it all, we are still singing of the goodness of God–especially on this wonderful week of giving thanks.
What about you?
Do you remember saving up Green Stamps for something?
Are you staying home or traveling for Thanksgiving? How many will be at your gathering?
Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving dish you make? Or have to have?
Look around where you are reading this and write what you are most thankful for right at this very minute. It could be something as small as a fresh cup of coffee or the slant of sunlight on the wall.
Thank you so much for sharing your Thanksgiving and beautiful photos with us! I love what one of your readers said, “It’s not the date, it’s the company.” A brilliant insight to be remembered!
Fred and Lucy,
Yes, that is definitely a good thought to keep in mind. Dates don’t really matter but people do!
Glad you enjoyed the photo!
We stayed home and had our daughter, husband and 2 of her “kids” for Thanksgiving. This year I didn’t feel like a sitdown dinner, so it was buffet and “sit wherever you want.” Table and couch were open!! Your Thanksgiving looks like what ours used to be. Many folks and much food. Ah, yes, Green Stamps. I know it was like a Sears catalogue to us. Mom got several things from there – one might have been a silver chest – not sure. We usually have scalloped corn but saw a recipe that said her husband did not like corn but did like this recipe. Frozen corn thawed, in a frying pan that you add lots of butter and whipping cream. It was good, but think I like the old scalloped corn better. Such precious pictures – now and then. Blessings to the entire family.
Sharyn,
“Sit wherever you want” sounds great to me. That’s what we did for our Thanksgiving dinner. And a buffet is always a nice idea with not having to pass big, heavy dishes. Each year brings its own traditions to fit whatever is going on at that particulr time.
It’s been a long time since I’ve even heard about scalloped corn; I’ll have to look up a recipe and see what goes into it.
It sounds like your thanksgiving was a smashing success. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. We spend all day cooking together and always have a veritable feast. I will be cooking 30 pounds of potatoes this year for our crew of 47 so that we have plenty for leftovers on Friday and Saturday.
Right at this moment, standing in my bathroom, the thing I am most grateful for is indoor plumbing and specifically toilets. I have used many a commode around the world, and it’s one thing this country has gotten right!
Prayers would be appreciated for my 43 year old cousin who is in the ICU with pneumonia right now.
Robin,
Let me just say that I hope you have a humongous potato pan to fit in all those potatoes! That is a LOT. But I agree–having plenty for leftovers is the best.
So true. Indoor plumbing is something that is so easy to take for granted and yet what an immense luxury it is. Thank you for the reminder. And praying right now for your cousin–that is so young to be struggling with such a serious ailment.
So glad you were all able to be together for Thanksgiving even though it was a few days early. It’s not the date that counts, it’s the company.
Probably my most favorite dish at Thanksgiving is sweet potato casserole. I am not that fond of stuffing, in fact, there have been a few years that I either didn’t make it or I just made some stove top stuffing.
Before my parents were in the nursing home, we alternated Christmas and Thanksgiving with my sister-in-law’s family. We would have Christmas on Christmas Day one year and Thanksgiving on that day the next year with Christmas another agreed upon date. Our last holiday together was Thanksgiving 2020. We had just about decided to forego getting together for Christmas that year due to the pandemic but then my mom fell on December 11, breaking her femur and ending in two different hospitals until January 3rd. Last year I was supposed to go to my brother and sister-in-law’s then she and my nephew came down with COVID the week of Thanksgiving. I will visit my parents in the nursing home Thanksgiving then I’m going to fix a non-traditional meal for myself – steak, twice baked potato (from a local grocery store) and some kind of pie (from same grocery store).
I do remember my mom saving green stamps although I’m not sure what she used them for.
Today I am thankful for the rain we have been getting the last two days. We have had a dry summer so the rain, although a cold rain, is welcome.
Phyllis,
Your non-traditional meal sounds fabulous. I know your parents enjoy and appreciate your visits. I’m sure the nursing home will have a lovely Thanksgiving meal for its residents. I think the smells and tastes of Thanksgiving bring back so many memories to all of us–and especially those elderly ones who are so dear to us.
Vernie used to make the BEST sweet potato casserole; I’ve used her recipe but never succeeded in replicating it. It’s one of my favorites, too.
Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Thanksgiving is very bitter sweet for me now since losing my mother in 2019. We always went to her house for Thanksgiving. I’m an only child and that is the one holiday that we never shared with my husband’s family. We lived near his mom (his dad died before we married) and she was always gracious to give us Thanksgiving since she had us other times of the year. Each Thanksgivings since I lost her has been spent doing something completely different. And this year my daughter, her husband and our new grandbaby are hosting us in their home. They bought the house last year after Christmas so this is her first Thanksgiving in their new house. I’m still cooking most of the meal, but I must say that this tradition might be a new one that sticks. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the holiday.
Lisa,
That’s one of the hardest things about losing a parent–getting through all the holidays that will happen without them. So many memories and nostalgic tears and thankful smiles.
I’m happy to hear that you are looking toward starting a brand new tradition of going to your daughter’s house and getting to be with your new grandbaby. I’m seeing many smiles in your future. Hugs!
I’m thankful for your Monday posts that I enjoy so much, the fresh cup of coffee I just enjoyed and a cat in my lap. The list of Thankfuls goes on and on!
You guys did a fabulous job pulling all that together for the meal! Loved the potato and bathroom fixture story. And extra points for you for not repeating your previous Plumbing Helper Transgression!
I so loved seeing the pictures of the day and all the beloved faces. I can just imagine Ken and Vernie gathering a little crowd up in heaven to peer down on the happy gathering, regaling their heavenly audience with proud descriptions of their family. Don’t know if that’s how heaven works, but I like to think it does!
We’re hosting our kids and granddog and several of Randy’s siblings this year. Our meal will include the typical yummy Thanksgiving fare with a dessert highlight of a coconut cream pie made by one of the sisters. I don’t even like coconut that much but I like that pie!
The faces around the table change from year to year, but the love shared and joy of being together remains the same. Wish it was possible to connect our table to yours! ❤️
Much love to you and Steve and the Charlotte Ten!
Love, Deb
Deb,
If you’re serving coconut cream pie, Steve will take a special flight just to have some. I’m glad you will get to spend the day with so many people you love–who are also good cooks!
I loved your imagery of Ken and Vernie gathering a little crowd in heaven to peer down and tell stories about us–the family, the house, the neighborhood, the dog. So lovely to continue to live the story they began writing.
And yes, let’s get those tables connected!
Always enjoy your creative and witty comments. Tell Croix Aunt Becky says hello!
Becky
I so look forward to your Monday posts. Like you my hubby and I live in my mom and dad’s house which I inherited after my mom made her journey to heaven. Sometimes it is hard to look around and see their things. But I am slowly making it our own. My dad has been in heaven since 1997 and my mom since 2017. Thanksgiving always happened at my bonus mom’s ( my sweet mother in law) but since she journeyed to heaven in 2018 at the young age of 99 it has been in our home. At last count we had 21 people coming with an additional maybe 2 more. I am most happy when I have both my kids and all their kids around me. Thankfully everyone brings their favorite dish. A joyous time
As I look around this room I am most thankful for my hubby of 53 years a real treasure in my life. As I like to tell him next to Jesus I love him most ❤️
I love the pics in your post it’s is like they are my friends too. Thanks for sharing. Have a blessed Thanksgiving week
Gail,
What a dear thing to say that the people in the photos feel like your friends, too. I love how this blog connects us all!
Isn’t it a different sort of feeling to live in a parent’s home? I understand what you mean by “slowly making it your own.” We are doing the same thing; preserving the memories we can but adding our own personalities and personal touches in the meantime.
I love that your most thankful for your husband. Fifty-three years is a wonderful marriage milestone!
I have to say – the very first thing I though of when I saw the photo of the vanity was the post you linked to. 🙂
My mom saved green stamps, and I remember going with her to the Green Stamp Store on Main Street. I don’t remember anything she “bought” with them though. That silver must be such a lovely treasure to you, especially during the holidays!
We will be a Thanksgiving party of four. My daughter and I cook (one of only two days per year our husbands aren’t on kitchen duty). We finally got smart this year and put our standard menu into Google Docs so we don’t have to try to remember everything. Last year we forgot cranberry sauce! Haha. We have a few must-haves for each of us: sweet potato casserole, broccoli/corn scallop, dressing (THE STAR OF THE SHOW!), and deviled eggs. 🙂
Right this minute I’m thankful for my work people – we are having a chili cook-off in the office today and it’s already smelling WONDERFUL in here!
Stefanie,
What a fun thing to get to go pick things out from a Green Stamp store. I think they should bring those back!
I definitely learned my lesson as Steve’s assistant in bathroom repairs. It’s funny you immediately thought of that story; we also discussed it and laughed all over again.
A chili cook-off. You are definitely living the good life!
Wonderful post, Becky. I love the moments you capture in your photos, especially the shots of people just enjoying one another, and moments in time. Not necessarily posed. I think back in the day, we didn’t “waste” picture taking, where we had to buy and process film. Now we can snap away, and choose those special, magical snippets of time.
Like you, my husband and I are now living in an area where we have history. We live in the area where we grew up, and partially raised our 4 kids. (Our youngest two experienced the joys, and not joys, of moving around to other states.) Our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were firmly planted in this area. We’ve re-potted ourselves back home, and it feels good! Having one of our adult kids, and grandkids nearby is nothing we ever planned, or imagined would be. And being near my elderly dad, and in-laws, helping out in their later years, is the best.
I love the T shape table. That’s something I’ve done differently than my mom, when she would host get-togethers. She and my dad would spread out card tables, even to different rooms, for large gatherings. I’m all about having everyone gather at one table, in one area, if at all possible.
My mom saved green stamps, and her silver was purchased with those as well. I have no idea where that silver got to. Put me in the paper plate club, with dishwasher safe utensils. Convenience rules for me, these days.
Right this minute I’m thankful for quiet morning time, for reading and typing at my computer. Thank you for giving all of us Smith followers thoughtful posts over the years/decades!
Ann,
I agree whole heartedly about the blessing of living in the age of digital photos instead of film. I’m old enough to have taken my share of film photos and I was always thinking about the cost with every photo. Now, as you beautifully put it, we can “snap away and choose those special, magical snippets of time.” Blessed!
How great that you have also ended up near your family and “re-potted” yourselves. Love that word and imagery. Enjoy being around all the people you love!
I remember putting the green stamps in the books for my mom, but I an mot sure what she bought with them. It was a fun job for kids to put the stamps in the book.
We aren’t traveling for Thanksgiving, but will be at one of the kids houses so I only need to make a pie. I am not sure how many but at least 12.
My favorite is probably pumpkin pie, but this year I am taking an apple pie as they already have a pumpkin.
I am thankful right now for the view I have out the window and the birds that come to the bush and sing while I am on the computer.
Blessings to you all this Thanksgiving.
Patti,
Bird in the bush on a quiet morning. Doesn’t get much better than that!
And good to hear that you can relax on Thanksgiving, not hosting and not having to cook a lot–just enjoying the people you love!
Beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing. So good to see all the family together. We appreciate seeing this so much.
Judy,
How wonderful to hear from you!
Yes, having the family all together for Thanksgiving was a true joy. (A little chaos thrown in there but mostly joy.) I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving. Hugs to all.