The Year of the Thanksgiving “Lumps”

It wasn’t really unusual for our family to enjoy a turkey dinner once or twice during the year, when I was growing up, so what definitely set aside Thanksgiving as a special holiday meal was Mamma’s stuffing. Mm-m-m! Hers was no packaged, out-of-the-box stuffing; but a day ahead of dicing, chopping, measuring and then letting it set overnight to allow all the flavors to blend together. The result was the most amazing stuffing one could ever imagine. Even as a child, I could hardly wait to heap it onto my plate every year.

Reading the book, A Fine Dessert, by Emily Jenkins and Sophie Blackall (a delightful book about four families who in four different centuries all made and enjoyed the same blueberry dessert) reminded me of the joy and importance of keeping and sharing tasty traditions from year to year. Think about the food that was on your table for Thanksgiving when you were young. Was there one special dish that still evokes a special memory or signifies Thanksgiving? As you reflect, we hope you will be inspired to write your own H2L.

The Year of the Thanksgiving “Lumps”

Every Thanksgiving Day our home on Candleberry Road is filled with laughter, love, and a great amount of food! Most of the laughter is provided by all of you grandchildren, the love by our whole family, and the great amount of food by all the mommies and me! We gather in the kitchen, join hands, and pray together, then spread out on the back porch and share in a delicious Thanksgiving meal. Besides turkey we always have great-grandmamma’s traditional stuffing.

Have I ever told you about the year she tried to change it? Oh goodness! As we began eating, my sisters and I noticed something rather unusual. Mamma’s stuffing had strange little lumps in it. We didn’t know what they were. Mom told us they were “giblets,” and then went on to explain what giblets were. We couldn’t pick them out fast enough! And that’s when we reached for the “yummy lumps” on the table – sugar lumps! It was rather comical how quickly my sisters and I went from making faces at eating giblet lumps to smiling at sugar cube lumps! That was the last year Mamma put giblets in her stuffing.