“My Mama worked as a nurse. On her Thanksgivings off, she spent the day cooking a feast. Our dinner menu never varied. I recall home-canned green beans, mashed taters, sweet taters, dressing, turkey, and cranberry relish. Her parents lived with us from the time I was six until their deaths, but I don’t recall other family members joining us that day. Aunt Katy, who was no kin, but a retired nurse in our town always ate with us. My daughter and I still make Mama’s cranberry relish recipe every year. Our meal would be incomplete without it even though it never tastes as good as Mama’s did.”
Gina – November 2012
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It’s time for another Thankful November Giveaway. I’m hosting the giveaways as a way of saying THANK YOU to Blind Pig and The Acorn readers so be on the lookout for more giveaways throughout the month. Today’s item is…
A Blind Pig and the Acorn ball cap. Paul got a couple of freebie hats made a couple of years ago and somehow I never did anything with them. If you’d like a chance to win this one-leave a comment on this post. *Giveaway ends Friday November 27, 2015.
I hope you enjoyed Gina’s memories of Thanksgiving. I’ll be sharing more giveaways in the next few days so be sure to drop back by, and hey tell your friends to come too!
Tipper
All done but the left overs.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Barbara
Happy Thanksgiving! Turkey in the oven! God bless you and thanks for such enjoyment throughout this year. Would love that hat!
Tipper,
Everything is about ready to put on he stove in the morning. Celery hearts are washed and ready to
cut and stuff…Broccoli casserole is mixed and ready to bake…Dressing is mixed and ready to pop In the
oven…All I have to do is make the Pumpkin pie…not the traditional one…the one with cool whip, cream cheese, vanilla pudding and pumpkin, spices and the graham cracker ready crust…We love it…It loves us as it rounds us out so to speak….I wanted to make the orange rind cranberry relish, like my Mom always made…her recipe…but the daughter in law prefers the jelled kind…We are having other dishes at my son’s home…He is dry frying the turkey and we will rotisserie the fully cooked small ham…
It is going to be a sad Thanksgiving…the first one without our oldest son…I know he will be there in spirit….
Thanks Tipper,
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Thanksgiving Meals are one of my favorites even though my parents & grandparents are gone we still gather at the old home place for Thanksgiving & Christmas Eve . I would love to have one of the Blind Pig and the Acorn hat.
Tipper
Thanksgiving is a memory filled time. Making my mother’s traditional cranberry jello. Love to read your blog. THANKFUL FOR YOU.
Carol Reid
hi tipper,so much to be thankful for,blind pig gang are right at the top.time to get pap and paul’s christmas music out.god bless.jean
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
As we all gather together, please keep in mind all our military personnel serving around the world to protect our freedom…
Frank
Well Tipper, my only responsibility is to make a banana pudding for our wonderful THANKSGIVING celebration with our three ‘long-legged’ grandsons and family. I never have any left over pudding – THANKS to the third grandson. HOPE YOUR CELEBRATION IS SUNNY AND WARM!
Eva Nell
Happy Thanksgiving to the whole Blind Pig Gang!!! (No give away, please. I’ve already won one this year)
I like my pigs pink and that pink pig really pops on that black hat (whew that was a mouth full). Love your Thanksgiving dinner photo. I just finished making my cranberry sauce and my pumpkin pie is in the oven (mmm, smells so good). I baked my cornbread for the dressing yesterday and I am getting ready to cut up my onions and celery for the dressing in a little while. Can you believe my husband and I watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving cartoon last night before Dancing with the Stars! Well, it wouldn’t be the holidays without good old Charlie Brown!
Have a great Thanksgiving!
Pam
scrap-n-sewgranny.blogspot.com
Nobody could make dressing like Mama could. She never cooked a turkey but stewed a big hen and used that–the shredded meat was in the dressing. It was not pretty but it was delicious! I miss her so much.
By the way, I plan to be filthy rich soon. I’ve got the first part done but rich has proven a lot more difficult!
Now, if you moved the blindpigandtheacorn.com down to where the pink pig is, pull the arch down in the middle then moved the pink pig up to where to the frowny form of the blindpigandtheacorn.com was, you would have a smiley. The grommets are the eyes. You could sell them on Etsy and get filthy rich and never have to work another day in your life. Why couldn’t I have thought of that? I could be filthy rich too!
Tipper,
I enjoyed Gina’s Thanksgiving Memories, she was able to pack a lot of things in just one paragraph. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I’m already getting tired but tomorrow is the day everyone’s been waiting for. The dressing and giblet gravy is my favorite, but I recon I’ll sample everything, then it’ll be hard to play with my granddaughters.
…Ken
Whew! One more slice of bread on that table and it’ll collapse!
I’d hate to have to choose which is the nicer of the two hats..
Bunny has already started making memories for our Grandchildren, Pumpkin Pies are ready and she and our daughters have assigned the rest of the feast. We will all gather Thursday with the exception of our son who is a police officer and has to work, this is nothing new to our family since I was an officer also and as such missed many holiday celebrations. My daughters both are medical professionals but were lucky to get Thursday off. We need to thank all of those who work holidays and miss the special days with their families while serving the rest of us. Nice cap today also.
Those are great memories Gina shared! I’m with Miss Cindy and would love for Gina to share the cranberry relish recipe!
There are some things that, no matter how we try, will never taste as good as Momma’s.
Making biscuits is an easy, unvaried recipe, no matter where you look. But Momma’s biscuits were the standard and I have no idea what made hers so exceptionally delicious.
What great writers you have, Tipper. Gina’s story was greatly enjoyed.
Happy Thanksgiving, BP&A.
That was a good memory. I have fond family memories of our family as we traveled to an aunt’s house or they came to our house. It was a crazy day with the noise and football games blaring in the background. My aunt used to make the best pies, but especially a wonderful apple cake. Gives me a yearning to see if I still have the recipe she gave me years ago. Happy Thanksgiving to all! One of my thankful things to do each day is read, “Blind Pig……”
Thanks to Gina for sharing the memories. My Thanksgiving feast will be almost identical. I hate to confess, but never prepared nor ate cranberry relish. Too late to shop and add, so I guess I will open a can of that jell stuff. I have, however, made it up to the family by preparing candy roaster (pamillion in these parts) pies. The flavor is just remarkable. I have a gigantic Kushaw a family member bought for decoration. I cannot wait to get into that, and will save the seeds of course.
Also, love the hat, and if I win it I shall wear it. Here is hoping the Blind Pig Gang has a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
I enjoy your daily Blind Pig and have read it for years. Right after my morning meditation time I grab a cup of coffee and read it. I really love to cook and enjoy your recipes! I am not really one to write things online but I would really like a chance to win a Blind Pig Cap. I suspect most people would like me to stop putting on the same Ford Truck hat every day. Gotta have something to keep my bald head warm. Keep up the Blind Pig and Acorn! Growing up in the south, I enjoy all the wonderful things you share.
I used to get up very early to grind the common crackers (do you have those in your neck of the woods?) for the turkey stuffing. I still have the grinder – in fact I have two. My Grammy’s and my mother’s, and they are identical so no idea which is whose. I’ve used them to grind meat many times over the years, but embarrassed to say I’ve never stuffed nor roasted a whole turkey.
I don’t wear caps , so could I have that beautiful quilt instead ??? lol just teasing .
Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your family , May God Bless you .
Am likin’ the pink pig. Kinda gets me in touch with my feminine side, yang, anima . Hope your family has a great thanksgiving. A pic of your table setting might be appropriate.
Tipper–My Thanksgiving memories are as bountiful as the meal was in my younger days. We never had turkey until I was grown. Instead, Grandma Minnie prepared two or three baked hens (how I loved digging inside the carcass to get those little eggs in the making) or, if hog-killing day had been the previous weekend, there might be fresh tenderloin. The array of side dishes was truly impressive. Sweet potato casserole, pumpkin chiffon pie, and applesauce cake from Mom; ambrosia and lima bean casserole from Aunt Emma; pickles and relishes including chow chow, pickled peaches, watermelon rind pickles, and bread-and-butter pickles from Grandma; creamed corn, pinto beans or crowder peas, green beans, cranberry and orange rind relish; and more. Grandma was responsible for the bread side of things, and her cathead biscuits slathered in giblet gravy were mighty fine. In addition to the desserts already mentioned that Mom made, Grandma always made a stack cake and, since she was dealing with dried apples anyway, she’d prepare a batch of fried pies along with the cake. Add coconut cake and orange slice cake and the dessert end of things was covered in fine fashion.
Since a morning rabbit hunt was always part of Thanksgiving for us, exercise afield meant appetites worth of the feast. Those are mighty fine memories–ones for which I am most thankful.
Jim Casada
I have mixed feelings about Thanksgiving this year. This will be the first one that I have ever spent without my mother.
She was a good cook and she cooked a feast every year. She would start cooking the week before Thanksgiving. She would make several cakes and pies along with the turkey and dressing and all the trimmings. We never knew how many would show up at our house for Thanksgiving dinner, but there was always more than enough. Everyone was welcome. My sister and I have done most of the cooking for Thanksgiving for the last few years, as Mother wasn’t able to do it anymore. She loved all the preparation and seeing everyone sitting and enjoying the fruits of her labor.
We will carry on the tradition, because I know that is what she would want us to do. Although she won’t be seated at our table she will be present in the hearts of all her children, grand children, and great grand children. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. One of the things that I will be most thankful for is the wonderful woman who was my mother and the fact that I know that we will all be together again one day!
I liked the first hat but this one is nicer. I guess you could call me a pig for entering both yesterday’s and today’s contest.
Wonderful memories of Thanksgiving growing up. We always had chicken & dressing rather than turkey. Us kids and our families always shared Thanksgiving day with our mom and dad until they both crossed the river. I am so thankful for such a wonderful life.
Cranberry relish (recipe on the back of the fresh cranberry bag) is traditional in our family too. We used to hand grind the ingredients but now I use an attachment for my mixer.
In recent years my husband, son, and I have made relish for either Christmas or Thanksgiving for a group which prepares a hearty meal for folks in the area who need a nourishing meal. They always put enough food in the clamshell trays so that recipients have enough for 2 or 3 meals. The number of recipients on “the route” has grown to around 150 so 2 cups of relish per recipient means the process has become a week long endeavor and trips to several area stores to get enough cranberries.
Yesterday I mentioned that there weren’t many children around for our Thanksgivings when I was a child. Even so there was lots a laughter surrounding the pause to express our gratitude for all our blessings. When I was too small to help, I used to love to sit at the edge of the kitchen and listen and watch as the womenfolk bustled about cleaning up after the feast. There was lots of reminiscing sprinkled with area and family gossip. Depending on where we were, Grandma or Mama would be scurrying here and there trying to get dishes, pots, and pans put away in the right place.
Granny’s job was always “dishwasher” – all 4 foot 11 of her would be draped with her apron and she would stand at the sink until the last dish was done. One year I recall Grandma (her daughter) repeatedly putting silverware or other dishes back in the wash pan because they weren’t clean. Granny finally slapped her hands on the edge of the sink and said, “Edna! Don’t you know that’s what the dish towel is for?!!”
Grandma was an extraordinarily particular housekeeper; Granny was probably 92 or 93 at the time; I have no clues how “dirty” those re-do’s were but Granny kept her job another couple of years.
Like Gina, I try to make some of Mom’s recipes but they never taste as good as hers did either. She actually never used a recipe and made simple country dishes like coleslaw, cobblers and homemade cakes with frosting that can’t be duplicated.
My blonde daughter would look good wearing that black cap while she helps deliver piglets at her boyfriend’s farm. I would only let her borrow it for special occasions like that.
Happy thanksgiving to you and yours!
Daddy wasn’t much of a turkey eater, so we usually had ham or roast beef for Thanksgiving. Mama always made her wonderful home canned green beans, a sweet potato dish, rolls, and a home baked pie or cake. Her cakes were legendary in our family. It wasn’t until I was married that I had turkey for Thanksgiving. We will miss them at the festive table, but their memories and love will be there with us.
Hi Tipper,
Your Thanksgiving Dinner table brought back pleasant family memories! I love the hat! There’s nothing like a black cap with a Pink Pig on it! (I’m a retired cop)!
Thanks,
Greg
“Mom’s Cranberry Relish”, oh, YES!
Always some of the youngest kids turning the old hand grinder to pulverize the berries, apples and oranges that went into it.
One small grandson, aged about three, remarked, “this is hard work!”
Around here, it always appears, and now it is my great-grand kids turning the old crank.
Thank you, Gina and Tipper, and wishing all of the Blind Pig and the Acorn friends a blessed and happy Thanksgiving
Our Thanksgiving this year will be with a huge crowd. We’re helping serve at the NC Baptist Men’s camp where we expect about 600 less fortunate folks to come for a meal.
My grandmother and grand father lived on the river in a neighboring town. We always had our holidays there with everyone chipping in with the food. It indeed was always the same, a tradition. I have noticed all our traditions are mainly about food. Now with my 3 children and their families and their spouses families our food traditions are changing to include the spouses tradition. This is as it should be. In all we are around 40 for dinner. We now have to rent a spot to hold us all, but it is wonderful to have everyone together.
My grandmother and grand father lived on the river in a neighboring town. We always had our holidays there with everyone chipping in with the food. It indeed was always the same, a tradition. I have noticed all our traditions are mainly about food. Now with my 3 children and their families and their spouses families our food traditions are changing to include the spouses tradition. This is as it should be. In all we are around 40 for dinner. We now have to rent a spot to hold us all, but it is wonderful to have everyone together.
My grandmother and grand father lived on the river in a neighboring town. We always had our holidays there with everyone chipping in with the food. It indeed was always the same, a tradition. I have noticed all our traditions are mainly about food. Now with my 3 children and their families and their spouses families our food traditions are changing to include the spouses tradition. This is as it should be. In all we are around 40 for dinner. We now have to rent a spot to hold us all, but it is wonderful to have everyone together.
My grandmother and grand father lived on the river in a neighboring town. We always had our holidays there with everyone chipping in with the food. It indeed was always the same, a tradition. I have noticed all our traditions are mainly about food. Now with my 3 children and their families and their spouses families our food traditions are changing to include the spouses tradition. This is as it should be. In all we are around 40 for dinner. We now have to rent a spot to hold us all, but it is wonderful to have everyone together.
Fond memories! That’s a beautiful spread in the picture above, looks like one of those where you eat till you can’t!
Perhaps Gina would share her cranberry relish recipe with us?
Awww, I like how the pink pig shows up on the black hat! I hope everyone has a happy cooking day today! Pies, fruit salad, and some other sides are being prepared today..as hubby says, It takes 3 or 4 days to prepare Thanksgiving dinner and 20 minutes to eat it !!