This is my 40th year of celebrating Thanksgiving with my family in the United States. It started after I got married to an American and I had Thanksgiving dinner with his mother and my brother who got a free turkey from his office. Since my brother was a bachelor, he gave me the turkey to cook. We lived in New York City at that time. From that small beginning, my family grew. My other brother came from abroad, then my younger brother followed him. Then they all got married and have their children.
For the first 30 years, I cooked the Thanksgiving dinner and we had it at my home. The first year, we had it at my apartment on E. 86th St. in New York. Then we moved to Long Island the following year. My brother would meet my husband at Penn Station and handed him the turkey on Tuesday and then I cooked it on Thursday. We had this ritual for at least ten years until he changed jobs and the free turkey stopped. Then I started buying the turkey myself. Our family slowly got bigger and the turkey got bigger every year.
When we bought our home 30 years ago, we had a small dining room and as the family grew in numbers, we were able to squeeze twelve people comfortably in the dining room. At some point, we devised a makeshift dining table out of the coffee table in the living room for the kids. After that year, we decided to change the layout of the house, made the dining room bigger and the living room smaller. When the kids were small, we had phone books stacked on their chairs so they could reach the table and ate with us. As the family grew, we used two tables and a card table joined together to form a long banquet table. Luckily I had this huge white tablecloth that I inherited from my in-laws. My husband told me his grandmother had sit-down dinner for 28 people. We had 23 people the last time I did thanksgiving dinner. Once they got seated, nobody moved till after dessert. I sat near the kitchen door so I would be able to get up if we needed something.
I hosted thanksgiving dinner for 30 years until one of my brothers got very sick and could not drive anymore so we started going to my other brother's house in New Jersey for thanksgiving. Twice, we went to California to be with my sons who moved there eight years ago. Now that my stepdaughter has her own family, we sometimes go to her place for thanksgiving. Today, we went to Connecticut to my stepdaughter's house.
While the thanksgiving dinner was at my home, it took a whole week of preparation to get everything done and ready - cleaned the house, got out all the china, glasses and silverware, white tablecloths and white napkins pressed and all the food cooked. It was hard work lovingly attended and done to almost perfection for my family. The menu was the same every year and everyone raved about it especially the chestnut stuffing.
We ate, laughed, and talked all at the same time. My stepdaughter used to bring her boyfriend and we always made a bet if he would be back the following year. The one who did, she married. Nobody could take in our boisterous family. We had so much fun. We have accumulated lots of memories all the years. My family and my brothers' family had a terrific time together. We always look forward to this get together.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!!
Copyright © 2009. By Rosalinda Morgan, "The Rose Lady". All rights reserved.. *THANKSGIVING DINNER - THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL FAMILY MEALS*
If you are interested in selling or buying a home in Brookville, Muttontown, Oyster Bay, East Norwich, Oyster Bay Cove, Syosset, Laurel Hollow, Bayville, Centre Island and Mill Neck, please contact Rosalinda Morgan, "The Rose Lady".
Ph - 516-385-0584
Email - linda@rosalindamorgan.com
Website - www.rosalindamorgan.com
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