A Quiet Thanksgiving Here At The Raymond House

[Henry]

Well, 5 family members gathered here at The Raymond Household to feast on an 18 pound turkey.  My sister Theresa came down with a pumpkin pie with whipped cream, daughter Sharon drove up from Hampton, NH bringing homemade rolls and a blueberry delight jello salad and daughter Mary Kay came in with a big platter of deviled eggs.  We didn't eat until 2 p.m. to give Sharon enough time to make it up from NH, although she said the traffic wasn't bad.

Like we didn't have enough leftovers, I decided to try and imitate my mother-in-law's turkey soup and boiled the carcass for a few hours.  She used to make the most delicious Turkey Soup and there was no way we could get away with throwing out the carcass.  She would always bring it home.  I have made it once before and it was really delicious, but something didn't come out right.  Haven't thrown the broth out yet, but expect I will and make it the way I usually do, with boughten chicken broth.

About 12:15, received a call wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving from a young man in the National Guard in Arizona.  I was so touched by the call, I could hardly speak.  He is a truly thoughtful young man.

The large family gatherings at the Thanksgiving Holiday were usually initiated by the generation ahead of me.  Now we only see each other at funerals.

Speaking of funerals, I received some information from Our St. Luke's Parish, and don't take this wrong, but was absolutely surprised at the number of funerals we have had.  Back in 2003/2004, we had 15 funerals and in 2007/2008 we had 3.

Meanwhile, up here on the Fletcher Road we are having snow flurries.  Although I doubt they are having them in Burlington, it does remind us that Christmas is less than a month away -

Ho!! Ho!! Ho!!

[dearon]

HI Henry,
We have a tradition of everyone getting together on the Holiday's as well.  We had 22 that were at our house Yesterday.  I cooked for three days getting prepared for this and every chair I had was filled! I love the holidays!
Went to the Door buster sales at Walmart and J.C. Penny's this morning, I was there at 4:30.   I've never seen so many people there snaked a line from the front door all the way to Home Depot. There were ill tempered ones too.  Can you say Grinch!

[Henry]

Deanne, sounds like the old fashioned Thanksgivings I remember back when my wife was able to get things ready as were my mother & mother-in-law.  Don't know how they did it.  Like most men, I don't multitask well.  My in-laws lived the next house down from Ed Paquin and in later years where Everett King lived, while my parents lived in the old farmhouse just above me.  We used to go to two big meals on most holidays and our children grew up with the traditional meals of both families.  As our parents got older, Maryann used to have both families down to the house, but Aunts, Cousins and other relatives no longer came.  One thing, however, that was common to both was a time of reminiscing about the old days.

[dearon]

Definately the good ole' days!  I remember going to my Grandfather & Grandmother's house for Christmas dinner there were so many people we had to eat in 3 shifts.  The ones that worked in the barn ate first then the adults then the kids.  By the time I ate it was around 3:00.  Everyone would get together and dance or sing after dinner, definately a great time.  Then my parents picked up the tradition until they go elderly, I hope to keep this going as long as I can.