Thanksgiving has come and will soon be gone. Another holiday has been packed away in our subconscious.  How much do any of us remember any particular holiday we spent in the past. I hope everyone had a nice holiday and thought of what they should feel thankful for — certainly more than just not being a turkey.

Thanksgiving made me think of family gatherings when I was a boy growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania. Many of my relatives were poor, poor farmers. I remember  visiting some of my poor relatives when I was a kid. They didn’t have a stick of furniture in their “front room,” but when guests arrived everyone grabbed a wooden chair from the kitchen, dragged it into the front room where we all  sat around “to visit.” If someone had chores to do, they asked the group whether they could be excused, and if one of the kids wanted to show a visiting kid (me) something we had to ask permission to leave the gathering and go off to see whatever was so interesting.

Refreshments were served: maybe only cool spring water, or fresh buttermilk from churning or maybe new cider. There was always something to chew on: fruit from their trees or bread that was freshly baked. I still remember one visit where home-canned beef was served. It was so exotic and I’ve never had anything to surpass the taste I recall. Looking back I wonder whether they knew they were poor, and, if they did, did it bother them?