A MID-COAST THANKSGIVING GATHERING

All stoves were fired! The old cast iron with recycled paper, the newer range with electricity. Oven roasting a twenty pound bird and four burners cooking the root vegetables to be served. By the time of my mid-day arrival, all preparations were well underway. Pies were positioned on the dining room sideboard, the table prepared and serving silver placed for the feasting hour. Only the cornucopia needed filling and that was my job. Fresh fruit, nuts and chocolate coated almonds spilled forth. It is Thanksgiving Day and I am spending this Holiday of Gratitude with a very special family that has embraced me.

For sixty years June has been preparing the main course. So it was done this year, exactly like the past. I believe the recipes probably came from her very first cookbook, BETTY CROCKER, or were passed down through the family. Why change a good thing? Besides, the immediate family wouldn't hear of it! So it was a twenty pound roasted turkey, not the "new" deep fried preparation. Real pearl onions in cream sauce, nothing from the frozen food shelves. Fresh squash, rutabaga, mashed potatoes, celery-onion stuffing and homemade cranberry-orange relish completed the fare.

Four adults, the brother-sister Siamese cats and a hound dog took their places. Some at the table, two on a window sill and one on the floor at the feet of his master. It was a peaceable kingdom as Thomas took position to carve the bird. His skill is evidence of the fine lesson learned at the side of his father many years ago. Call me old fashioned, but I love the passing of these fine traditions passed from parent to child.

It was a feast that lasted three hours...honoring the chef and partaking of animated conversation. What a fine gathering; putting any differences aside and praising the goodness of the individual spirit.

In keeping with the hearth being the heart of the home, the day after Thanksgiving, June shared with me an ancestral grape leaves recipe ( perfected by she and her brother.) This was an entirely new culinary delight for me. June prepared the lamb based filling as I prepared the grape leaves. When the prep was complete, she demonstrated how to fill and roll. Thirty six rolled leaves later, we had a kettle full. Broth was poured over and the pot was placed on a low heat burner for long, slow cooking. Now for the waiting. Would they be as tasty as we imagined? As with most foods, patience is one of the main ingredients. I wanted to taste one of our creations when they were finally cooked....and plenty hot. Too hot to savor the subtle flavors of mint, lemon and garlic. Full appreciation of the bouquet was to be realized the next day. And so I was reminded of a lesson that presents itself to me on a daily basis: everything in its own time.

At the end of each joyful day celebrating friendship, family, good food and conversation, I tucked myself into the eave where a bed toasty with an electric blanket awaited. I in my flannel pajamas and polar fleece cap slept like a baby.

MAY YOU FIND THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE HOLIDAYS TO CELEBRATE.