Thanksgiving #393

Today I trained up to Long Island to enjoy Thanksgiving Day with two of my sisters, their husbands, and their children. The food was great, we remembered old times and foods that we ate with the turkey as children.

Pearl onions in cream sauce must be an Irish-American thing --or that's the verdict for now. My Mom cooked it every year, and so did my brother-in-law's Mom, but we don't find it in the general memory.

As it happens every year, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation (1620) were mentioned here and there during the meal. I was in my thirties when we discovered that nine of those rugged people were our direct ancestors, including some of the leaders who invited the local native people to share a meal, which much later became the historical model for the present holiday. Somehow it's fun to know that because as the years pass we know more and more about that period in history and about our family's history. When we read about an ancient event we might say, This guy must have known our ancestor so-and-so.

This has been a wonderful day that I spent sharing food with my family.

Clockwise from far left: Tommy, Mary, Clare, Sean, "Uncle Bobby" (Me), Denise, Bill, and Bobby, whose longtime girlfriend Rosie snapped the picture for me.