A Burne Family Thanksgiving

As tradition has been for generations, every Thanksgiving, the Burne family gathered at our Grandmother and Grandfather Burne’s house on Sybil Avenue. From all over Connecticut we would gather for what our family considered one of the most treasured days of the year.

The Dining Room was crowded with two holiday-trimmed tables. One, of course, was the notorious “children’s table”.  We actually liked having our own table.  Our Grandmother made us feel special by letting us use her tall, carousel embossed glasses.  Memory Lane dishes, that my father had purchased from the A&P for my Grandparents, were perfect for this time of year.  They have acorns and oak leaves around the rim and farm scenes on the plates.  Our Grandmother’s china filled in where there weren’t enough of the other dishes.  I fondly remember the Pilgrim candlesticks on the adult’s table.  They were faded and never lit, but saved as a decoration year after year.

Our Aunt Kathy, Uncle Kenny and Dad (Phil) had a sibling rivalry.  Uncle Kenny and Dad teased Aunt Kathy – even as adults. It was amusing to watch.

We were fortunate enough to live across the street from our Grandparents.  I remember both my Grandparents beginning the preparations in the days before Thanksgiving.  They would be peeling turnips, pulling out the serving bowls and silver service, baking date nut breads and setting tables. Each family contributed to the meal in one way or another. Our Mom, Marilyn, mastered creamed onions. I didn’t like them as a kid, but do now.

Relatives arrived at different times, but one of our most cherished memories of the day was watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with the huge balloon floats of our favorite characters early in the morning.  The bands were pretty terrific too! Our Grandmother would put out snacks, i.e., cheese and crackers and chips with clam dip.

We couldn’t wait for our cousins to come so we could play cards and just enjoy each other’s company.

Our Grandfather made special drinks for us kids – ginger ale, grenadine and cherry with the stem.  For the boys, this was referred to as a Roy Rogers and for us girls, it was a Shirley Temple.

The featured event of the day began around two o’clock, when someone would say grace.  The spread was amazing.  Gram’s turkey was always perfect, missing some of that golden-crispy skin, of which both our Mother and I were guilty of consuming.  There was a celery, olive and pickle dish, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, gravy creamed onions, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, stuffing and turkey galore.

After dinner, some gathered to watch the football game.  Us kids would play hide and seek and later flashlight tag outside. We’d come in, the warm air hitting our rosy cheeks and we’d watch the Wizard of Oz.  It always seemed be on television on Thanksgiving.

After the dishes were done, the desserts were displayed on our Grandmother’s buffet and the adults table.  Gram had the home made chocolate sauce nice and warm to be drizzled over the vanilla ice cream, melting it slightly.  Her repertoire included her English Plum Pudding with hard sauce and delicious date nut bread with cream cheese spread in between two pieces.  There was a large bowl of fruit and basket of nuts, stuffed dates, apple, pumpkin and mincemeat pies.  Today we have added gingerbread turkeys, pizzelles, homemade seasonal chocolates, maple sugar cookies and banana chip bread.

Around five o’clock, sandwiches were made from leftovers.  There still isn’t anything quite like a turkey, stuffing, mashed potato and cranberry sandwich!  Yum!

Finally the day came to an end and we gathered dishes and families and headed for home with our clothes so tight we could barely breathe.  What a great childhood and wonderful memories!!

My sister Dawn and her husband, Anthony have carried on the tradition for years since they bought our Grandparents house.  Our Mom and I continued the tradition of raping the turkey of its skin for years.  This is our first Thanksgiving without her, but I will say as I carry on this tradition, “this is for you Mom”. I can still hear my Brother-In-Law, yelling from the living room, “You better not be eating that skin!”  Good times.

Some of our children have started their own families and we all have our own Thanksgiving dinner at our homes with extended family and friends.  I still watch the parade, visit my family at Dawn and Anthony’s in the morning and then rush home to put the finishing touches on our dinner.

Hopefully our Grandchildren – Ella, Gionni, Emma, Matthew, Mikey, George, Xander, Rylan and soon to be Ryker – will look back at their Thanksgiving celebrations and cherish them as we do.

Next on to Christmas, but that is another story . . .