Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
A Tale of Turkey Day from Long Ago
You may remember this Thanksgiving story from long, long ago…
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When I was growing up my favorite part of Thanksgiving wasn’t the turkey. Neither was it the dressing which is my favorite today but not then. What I remember most are the hors d’oeuvres and the wine flips and the trip downtown for football. I’ll explain.
First the hors d’oeuvres, which is not only the hardest thing to spell, but also may be too grand a word for what we made. We started with crackers, then applied, even squirted on, the cheese. Next we added tiny meats like salami and pepperoni, which we followed up with olives and pickles, then used a toothpick to hold the tower together. We placed them on a tray and delivered them to our guests in style and when it was empty we ran back to the kitchen to build the next batch until all the components were gone. Tasty little treats they were.
But dinner was not yet, for while the turkey was in the oven, my sisters drove us to Seattle’s Memorial Stadium for Turkey Day, to watch their high school football team, the Chief Sealth Seahawks, play in the championship game. And I – a mere little sister – got to tag along with them and their friends. I loved every minute I was in the presence of those confident teenage girls and couldn’t wait to be their age.
The ride home was exhilarating if we won, as we shouted out the windows to the losers driving by, “Seahawks Rule!” Whatever the kids from other cars would yell back, we would always counter with, “who won the game?” and that would silence them.
I remember the year Chief Sealth lost to the Roosevelt Roughriders, 10 to 7.
The ride home was quiet and we rolled up our windows. But by the time we made it back home, the sting of the loss was over, the turkey was ready and its fragrance filled the air. As we ate our dinner, mom pulled out the special beaded wine glasses and filled ours with 7-Up and a splash of wine, turning our drink a lovely pink (promise not to tell.) Next year we said.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Well penned and enjoyable memory! (with you on the hors d’oeuvres spelling: thank you Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V) Have a great Thanksgiving.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Nice memories to have, Susanne. But where was John when all this as going on? Had he already left home? 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
No. This was long ago. There were 6 of us kids growing up with quite a spread in age. My older sisters were in high school. I was probably in grade school, maybe junior high at the time and John is younger than me.
Ah, I wasn’t too sure about the age differences between you. 🙂
He’s younger by a couple years. But my oldest sister is 6 years older and my younger sister 10 years younger!
As an only child, that all seems strange to me. 🙂
I can’t imagine another way, but Bob was raised as an only child too. Pros and cons to both!
What a nice childhood memory! Those appetizer sound pretty good to me too!
Aw thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it! 😊
Love memories like this! Hors d’oeuvres are one of my favorite things! I love them, everyone else in the family not so much so I rarely get them.
Thanks so much! I haven’t had hors d’oeuvres quite like these since back in the day! But they definitely live large in my memories!
What fun Thanksgiving memories!
Thank you! 😊😊
Great story!
Thanks John! Do you remember Turkey Day at Memorial Stadium?
What lovely memories Susanne
Thank you so much! 🙂
These are beautiful memories. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed them!