Why Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving means so much to me

To be honest it is the last remaining special  holiday that makes me think of all of my deceased family members and even some still living family members and special moments we had when I was growing up and the world was a happier place.

I graduated High school in 1988 so yes I was around during the Reagan Administration and the threat of Nuclear War but overall we were a much happier generation I think than young adults of today are.

In my family the then Immediate Family Matriarch Martie Elzey , along with my grandfather Robert Elzey and even my Aunts and Uncles and Cousins (some of which still live in Delmar Md)made Thanksgiving so special. We had our private at home smaller dinner on Thanksgiving day , but it was not at all unusual for us to have the whole family of The Delmar Md based Church Family come together at another Aunt or Uncle’s home on the following weekend for a huge feast.

I grew up going to those farms on Connelly Mill Rd and Foskey Lane Rd on Sundays and having some of the best meat ever.
I remember my Grandmother’s brother, my Uncle Harry, and his farm animals and his meat hanging room when you first entered the side door of the Farm House he had prior to moving into a more modern Trailer. My Aunt Annabelle Dix home is where her old childhood home of her Father’s once stood. On Sunday’s sometimes the family would gather and they’d make fresh scrapple and sausage. You see this is where my love of food comes from….

Onward to Thanksgiving.  My grandmother would slave over those pies and that turkey and her famous Sweet Potato biscuits like nothing you have ever seen.

I watched and I helped. So my kids don’t understand why Thanksgiving, Christmas of Easter dinners are so important to me even in a time like this year when no one comes or when we are all working and it’s not as it used to be and we get to sit down and eat dinner together.

I will tell the world why…
It’s when I feel like my Grandmom, My Pop Pop and my Mom spirits are with me the most. It’s when I cook the things they made, or my Pop Pop’s favorites etc that I feel closest to them.

Every year without fail I make at least one dish that came from one of them. This years centerpiece will be Eunice’s Cornish Hens ! ( But with my own recipe flair of course)

It helps me to not miss them as much. It  brings them home to me, even if only 3 times a year.
I will admit not every relationship with my family was perfect or great, but I did love them all and I know they loved me too, in their own individual ways.

So enjoy this Thanksgiving video and know that when I cook it truly is with the spirit of my ancestors.

Happy Holidays
Charlene Sauce CEO of Sauces Best Catering

The family pics with the purple dots are me and my Mom Mom w the dots on us.

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