Final thought
I
used to love watching the holiday episodes of âRoseanne.â They were always chaotic, family-centered meals that closely resembled the ones in the house where I grew up. We had some real characters (as most families do), and I have memories of some great holiday meals. Though my father had only one brother, my mother came from a family of 10 children. Each of those children had anywhere from two to 10 children themselves. This meant our family gatherings were as funny and miserable as some of the meals at Roseanneâs table. Whether we were there for the holidays or Sunday dinner, it was always an event. My grandfather b built a huge wooden table in th their side yard, and it would be full of pots, bowls, and platters of the best food anywhere. All my aunts were wonderful cooks, and they always tried to outdo tr one another, which meant we had everything from po pot roast with all the trimmings to fresh green beans fr cooked with ham tto homemade coconut cake with seven-minute frosting. seve The yard was hug huge so all of us cousins, many of us aro around the same age, would play tag or h hide and seek until our mothers had the th table ďŹlled and the men had discu discussed hunting and politics. I realize realiz this sounds like a story from tha that guy who created âThe Waltons,â Walton but I promise you itâs tru true. Good times. Invariably, there would be Invaria a family squabble about fami something. Fixing a som meal with six to eight m different cooks who all thought they were the best usually meant some nitpicking.
DONâT LET THE HOLIDAYS GET YOU DOWN STORY: LEIGH NEELY
11 6
I lakeandsumter
.com om om
âMildred always leaves the salt out of her food. Itâs like eating bland mush.â âMae made the cornbread too dry again. I keep telling her you donât need that much cornmeal.â âClaudiaâs roast was tough today. I thought Ralphâs false teeth were going to fall out.â And then when you knew something was seriously wrong with a dish, youâd hear, âBless her heart, she always scorches her green beans. Today, theyâre burned to the bottom of the pan.â When the meal was almost ďŹ nished and everyone was enjoying dessert, the last aunt would arrive. I can never remember a time when she arrived and ate when everyone else did unless we were eating at her house, and even then, sheâd be cooking right up until time to serve. She always brought some kind of Jell-o congealed salad and mincemeat pie. I never had much love for either of those things so it was no great loss to me. However, my Uncle Clifford loved that mincemeat pie. I think it was because he was a tee-totaling Baptist, and my aunt fermented the mincemeat. At any rate, he was always much happier after three pieces of mincemeat pie. Finally, weâd all load up our cars again, after trading leftovers and sharing desserts. All the kids would crawl into the backseats and fall asleep because weâd been going nonstop all afternoon. Iâd sleep all the way home, wake up long enough to change into my pajamas, brush my teeth, and crawl into bed. There you have it, the ingredients for a successful family or holiday mealâa lot of food, a little fun, and a bit of fuss so everybody knows theyâre well loved.
