The Holiday Reminiscence Thread

[Dirk Legume]

It's quite obviously no "Crossed Giblets of Death." Still one of the funniest things I've ever read. But The holidays brings stories, both funny, and not funny until many years later and I thought it would be fun to tell a few.

This goes back 40 years or so, when the woman who would become my wife came into our family. Every other year, my mother would host Thanksgiving for the entire family (about 20) and when the family came, they would always rave about my mother's gravy and her secret recipe.

So when my wife came along, my mom told her it was time she learned the "secret gravy recipe," and opened the garbage can to show her the cans (it's in jars now) of Heinz turkey gravy. She told my wife that SHE never said it was a secret recipe.

Let's hear yours!

 

[ChrisLong]

Reminds me of this:

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Reminds me of this:

I hope you had a helluva ****, Arnold! CC: @Huggy

 

[garrow]

When I was a kid and we would go to my cousins' house around Christmas, I couldn't wait to open presents...but at some point around 12 or so, I just couldn't wait to eat. Presents were always disappointing.

 

[I Should Coco]

Half of my family (my Dad's side) is Italian, so growing up, when we went to my great aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving, a big bowl of meat ravioli with red "gravy" was always part of the menu. In fact, my favorite part of the menu!

 

[micropolitan guy]

Thanksgiving dinner was always at my paternal grandparent's house, down on the NY/Penn border, starting at 1. Then we'd head over to my maternal grandparent's, about five miles away in another little border town.

A hour drive, but it seemed endless, on a busy two-lane road that always had someone driving 40 and it was impossible to pass.

Christmas was at our house. We had our presents opened by 8 a.m. but got another round when the grandparents showed up about noon.

Great memories and traditions.

 

[DanOregon]

Once we were old enough to go as a family to Midnight Mass, Christmas was great. But going to morning mass just meant yelling to start getting dressed. And then we came home and then the yelling started again because we went to my grandparents for dinner.

 

[Driftwood]

My fondest memories of Christmas as a kid are watching the Blue-Gray Classic with my dad at my grandmothers house.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

My fondest memories of Christmas as a kid are watching the Blue-Gray Classic with my dad at my grandmothers house.

When I was a kid, my father had to work on Christmas Day, and my mother worked as a cleaning lady at our local hospital. I was too young to stay home, so I had fo get up super early and go to work with my mother by 7 a.m.

She would get me a McDonald’s hotcakes and sausage breakfast, which was a treat because we rarely ate out due to a lack of money, and she arranged for a TV to be brought in to the employee lounge, where I had to hang out most of the day. I’d bring some books and an electronic game to keep me occupied.

The TV was fine for the early morning when cartoons were on, but there always was a dead spot around 9 a.m. or 10 because the cartoons went off there sir, there was no cable, and there would be nothing but religious services or the Yule Log or some other non-kid shows on until noon, when the Blue-Gray game would come on as a lifesaver for me to keep my sanity.

 

[Dirk Legume]

We always opened our gifts on Christmas Day. But my mother was, in her words, "being really nice because you and your brother are so excited," that we would be allowed to open one package on Christmas Eve. It was always something like a shirt or pants. I was older than I should have been when I figured out that since she was doing the selecting, we weren't getting nothin' good that night!

 

[cyclingwriter2]

One year my sister and I did part of Adam Sandler’s thanksgiving song for the blessing. Our parents were not amused.

Another one: my mother kept fishing for compliments on the turnips circa 1988. I finally said “mom, I haven’t had turnips this good since the ford administration.” My mother was gobsmacked on that one.

I have the vaguest of memories of going to a high school football game actually on Thanksgiving. It may have been the last one played in our city which is why we went. I also remember one of my brother’s buddies who was playing in the game came out in the “home” jersey instead of the road jersey. We never lost sight of him, especially when the coach made him run laps while his teammates warmed up.

 

[DanOregon]

The best part of Thanksgiving for me as a kid was watching the college games on Friday and Saturday with my dad. My mom made the best leftover turkey sandwiches and she'd bring them in on a platter, all cut up. Sliced sourdough, romaine lettuce, cranberry sauce, mayo and pepper. Oh wow, so good.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

The best part of Thanksgiving for me as a kid was watching the college games on Friday and Saturday with my dad. My mom made the best leftover turkey sandwiches and she'd bring them in on a platter, all cut up. Sliced sourdough, romaine lettuce, cranberry sauce, mayo and pepper. Oh wow, so good.

MY SANDWICH?!

 

[micropolitan guy]

One year my sister and I did part of Adam Sandler’s thanksgiving song for the blessing. Our parents were not amused.

Another one: my mother kept fishing for compliments on the turnips circa 1988. I finally said “mom, I haven’t had turnips this good since the ford administration.” My mother was gobsmacked on that one.

I have the vaguest of memories of going to a high school football game actually on Thanksgiving. It may have been the last one played in our city which is why we went. I also remember one of my brother’s buddies who was playing in the game came out in the “home” jersey instead of the road jersey. We never lost sight of him, especially when the coach made him run laps while his teammates warmed up.

When I was a kid my grandfather had cable (the founders of Adelphia started out in Coudersport, Pa., near his home). The Iona Prep-New Rochelle game (or something like that) was always on some random station on Thanksgiving morning.

In college, Thanksgiving was the bomb. Four nights of bar-hopping with guys I hadn't seen since August. The 18-year-old drinking age in New York State was a godsend.

 

[MTM]

From about age 19 to 30, a group of us would play street hockey every Thanksgiving. I had moved a couple hours away from where I grew up, so it was a great opportunity to reconnect with friends.
As we got older, the hardest part became climbing the chain-link fence to get on the playground at the elementary school where we played.

 

[qtlaw]

It was mid tackle football for us from 16-20 then it became too risky to get hurt.

 

[qtlaw]

I LOVE Thanksgiving!! Always 4 day holiday, sweet smelling turkey cooking, lots of relatives around. Still feel the same; mom still cooking for 20 at 87!!

 

[Here me roar]

I have a lot of great stories, but I really want to type them in, and I don't think I know how to log into this site on my computer.

 

[Dirk Legume]

I LOVE Thanksgiving!! Always 4 day holiday, sweet smelling turkey cooking, lots of relatives around. Still feel the same; mom still cooking for 20 at 87!!

I'm annoyed I can only like this once. When she was still with us, my mother in law would take on the entire dinner by herself, regardless of how many people offered to help. She would always say, "I'm fine, I've got it." She admitted about a year before she passed that she really didn't think anybody else could do it right.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

I'm annoyed I can only like this once. When she was still with us, my mother in law would take on the entire dinner by herself, regardless of how many people offered to help. She would always say, "I'm fine, I've got it." She admitted about a year before she passed that she really didn't think anybody else could do it right.

I think that was my maternal grandmother's point of view, as well. We had the whole extended family at Nanny and Poppa's house every year for both Christmas and Thanksgiving, and she did them both herself.