Brumley Thanksgiving it is that time of year when we look forward to seeing family and friends. Our lives get so busy from work, school, and other things that it is a nice time to take a great big deep breath and relax!
I remember when I was a child living in a small Illinois town that my brothers and I looked forward to the Thanksgiving break from school. The weather could be cold or mild but it made no difference to us. Since I was the only daughter in the family I got to help my mother, Nancy Gertrude Brumley Weik, go the store and buy everything we needed to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. We didn’t have any relatives living near us to ask over to our house so she just fixed a great dinner for my dad and my brothers and me.
There was always the turkey to roast in the oven, she would put a tent over the turkey of aluminum foil to protect it from getting too brown before it was done. She would prepare the stuffing so it would be ready to pop in the oven when the bird was almost done. Everything was made from scratch, there was no instant anything. I peeled the potatoes for boiling and got the green beans ready. It was a timing thing that as a child I was amazed at, she knew just what to do so that everything was done at the same time.
She would make the Pumpkin pie the day before along with the Jello salad. It would free up the oven space so Tom Turkey could be front and center! I would be running back and forth from the living room and the kitchen watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV while helping her get things ready.
We didn’t have a dining room only the kitchen table, so while things were in the final stages of being completed I sat the table with plates and silverware, along with three glasses for milk one for each one of us kids.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, there were only about three channels on the TV and we had only one TV and it was in the living room. So we got to watch the parade on TV but after that, it was football, football, and more football. I don’t remember any favorite team of my father’s but it really didn’t matter to him.
Everything was set and coming together so it was a little heck it in a small kitchen. The bird was done and resting so my dad could carve it. My mother was mashing the potatoes and stirring the gravy usually at the same time. The green beans were ready and I opened a can of Cranberry sauce on to a small plate after being chilled in the refrigerator. My mother loved her Cranberries, I poured the glasses full of milk and then came the announcement – time for dinner!!!
We gathered around the table in the kitchen, including our dog Taffy who was under the table. It smelled so good from Turkey to the warm rolls that just came out of the oven. My mother made sure we had all our favorites at this meal, that was her crowning achievement. She was tired as she sat down and began passing the hot food first around the table, but it was a good tired she would always say to me. There was always leftovers to take us through the weekend.
Then came the cleanup was on while my dad and brothers watched TV. It seemed like endless dishes because we did not have a dishwasher. My mother would wash and I would dry – it was a time when my mother and I would have some of our best conversations. By the end of the cleanup, my dad would be asleep in his recliner, my brothers would be outside or doing something in their rooms, my mother would take a nap and I went in my room and listened to music and wrote in my diary about the day. The day had been a good one!
I have started up my Brumley Family Branches Genealogy blog again and have updated some of my favorite posts. Please feel free to share this post with family and friends. If you have questions or wish to add any new information please email me.
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!
Brumley Family Branches 