NOSTALGIA TIME

Holidays in the fall have their own special memories. First is Halloween. In childhood choosing what I wanted to "be for Halloween" was very important, because my mother would sew my costume. Telling others what you were "going to be" was never done because you didn't want anyone to guess who you were. When I became the mother who was making the costumes, I asked each child what he/she wanted to be. The requests were as different as my children, and I made astronaughts, witches, Jaws, a unicorn, and more. I felt sorry for the kids who had purchased costumes. Every TV and movie character looked the same, and all lacked originality. Halloween night, after my own children came home, the older kids in the neighborhood came out. Since they were too old for Trick or Treat, they would just come out for fun. One year a teenaged girl and two boys rang the bell. When I answered the door, they hastily repositioned themselves to show their "costume". It took some explanation, but they told me that the boys were the clothes poles and the young lady was a piece of laundry "hanging out on the line". I complimented them on their originality, right down to the clothes pins on her shoulders holding her onto the rope. Since I didn't know them, she said she lived in the house at the bottom of the street. I replied, "You mean the one with the beautiful blue iris?" and she nodded. Later on in November I found a bag of iris roots which I planted in our garden. We lived in that house for twenty years and the iris had multiplied many times and filled all the gardens with their lovely hue.

Thanksgiving was important mainly because of having turkey and company to share it. When I was little, my parents' house was the biggest so that's where everyone came. This included family plus friends. I had several cousins around my age, so there was no shortage of kids to play with that day. For days, the place smelled of pumpkin pie, apples, vegetables and squash. My father never wanted to "CARVE THE BIRD", so it was left to my mother. Even so, it came out perfectly. The week afterward meant turkey sandwiches and pumpkin pie for breakfast! Leftovers went home with guests as well. Years later when I was planning to host Thanksgiving dinner, I would listen to the kids talk about the holiday. The entire conversation would be about the big dinner and maybe the Pilgrims and Indians. Not once did they talk about the MEANING of Thanksgiving in the present time. This bothered me, and to that end I used a supply of construction paper to make a turkey's body to which I attached many colored feathers. When I showed my silly bird to the kids I explained that they were going to put onto each feather what they were thankful FOR. The responses were interesting. Of course one child said "food", but other responses were things like "parents who love us", "a good Catholic School", a "cuddly bunny", "ponds and lakes", good teachers, and more. That was back in the 1980's, and I have kept that poor bedraggled turkey in a big folder to show off each Thanksgiving. It reminds us all of what the holiday is about and brings a smile to everyone.

The adults' conversation briefly turned to Christmas, but they all shuddered at that thought. Too close! Yet like it or not, the holiday was close upon everyone. I knew a family in New Hampshire with eight children. Because once those eight had their own children, Christmas could have been a burden. The problem was solved by using Thanksgiving as the time to draw names. Each young family drew two names to give Christmas gifts to. That way no one had an impossible list. I congratulate the mother who thought of doing that.