Traditionally, when I was a kid, we had Thanksgiving at my maternal grandparents. Grandma was just a little woman but was spry and full of energy. She was, however, a little obsessive when it came to a clean house. You NEVER went into her house with shoes of any kind on. At one point I spent a few days with her that required me to do some laundry. The washer and dryer were in the basement and when my laundry was dry I brought it up to fold while I visited with her. OOooopss! That, I found out, would spread dust and lint! It was to be folded in the basement! Incidentally, I don't remember ever seeing dust in her house! HHmm
I digress. As the family increased by cousins and more cousins it was necessary for some to eat in the kitchen and others the dining room. The oldest, and therefore they thought, more trustworthy, were the boys. Grandma had a round table and horseshoe shaped bench built into a walled-in area in the kitchen. If you happened to be in the back part and needed to get out either everyone to one side of you had to slide out or you'd hear the infamous, "Crawl Under"! (It was with great relief when I was older and expecting that I was granted the end of the bench!)
Six boys were assigned to sit there. My Mom and aunts all dutifully served their boys and got them situated before settling themselves in the dining room. My Uncle would stand in the doorway to say the blessing. During the blessing my cousin, sitting next to me, decided to sneak a bite of a celery stick. Do you know what a bite of celery sounds like in a quiet room? Do you realize how hard it is as a 7 year old to stifle all the bubbling giggles? Do you realize the "Look" you get when you peek up at your parents? That stifled my giggles real quick! After the blessing we all dug in to a feast that is probably not outdone anywhere else. The normal conversations were taking place and everyone was happy... well for a few minutes until we heard some strange exclamations and 'shushing' from the kitchen area. Apparently one of my male cousins didn't like squash and turnip but in our generation we were told to eat everything on our plates. He, being full of 13 year old wisdom, asked the cousin at the end to grab a big can out of the trash. He proceeded to put this on his lap and scrape the unwanted vegetables into it. Great idea! No one would notice, right? WRONG! Grandma used to take both ends off the can and push the cranberry sauce out whole to slice it nicely! This is the can he had. You know what happened when he filled it and lifted it to pass along!
I was so THANKFUL I wasn't in the kitchen that year. I was also VERY thankful that it was a cousin and not one of my brothers!
