Thanksgiving as a Child

Thanksgiving in Medford as a child meant... 

1. St. Joseph's church for morning Mass.
2. the Medford/Malden football game-61st year when I was a senior at Medford High, 1964.
3. the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV.
4. singing "Over the River and through the Woods" written in Medford in 1844. 
5. everyone dressed in Sunday best.
6. full dining room regalia ready for dinner -- the best china, silver, cloth napkins, and glassware set out on a newly pressed cut work tablecloth, seating around the table, touching edge to edge waiting.
7. each oven and each stove burner occupied, steam slipping from beneath covers, smells filling each room.
8. every extra table or shelf covered with dishes of home baked cookies and freshly baked pies--pumpkin, apple, and minced meat.
9. cooks busy in the kitchen, apronned neck to knee.
10. company.
11. the dining room filled to capacity.
12. grace recited while stomachs growled and food waited.
13. antipasto, Italian chicken soup with escarole and mini-meatballs.
    
14. Dad sitting, poised with a huge carving knife, waiting for the first cut into the golden brown turkey.
15. sliced turkey, dressing, and gravy; bowls of vegetables, sweet potatoes and mashed, squash, turnip, stuffed mushrooms and artichokes.
16. a walk and a rest after dinner but before dessert.
17. a day to be grateful, a day to remember.