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Thanksgiving has always been my favorite Holiday. It is a family day. It is a time where families come together to celebrate their love for one another. When I was a little girl, we had amazing celebrations. We were very poor, but being poor didn't matter. My mother and her "comadres" planned their Thanksgiving feasts weeks in advance. On Holidays, specialities were on the menu. This was our chance to have Tamales, Barbacoa and Menudo. These were delicacies for us in Michigan. They were not every day menu items. Sure we ate tortillas, rice and beans on a frequent basis, but the delicacies were left for special times. It wasn't that they were expensive, it was just that they were either time consuming to make or the meats in the menu items were difficult to come by in Michigan. Of course, nowadays, you can buy these delicacies at your local Taco Cabana or Mexican Restaurant or buy the ingredients at your local Kroger or Wal-Mart.
Tamales were time consuming to make. My mother rarely made them alone for our family. Usually she brought in her comadres from the neighborhood. Each would bring an ingredient. One group would bring the corn husks. Another would bring the corn masa harina. My mother usually made huge pots of meat mixture, usually made from pork. The women gathered around the table. Each had a stack of cleaned/soaked corn husks. Bowls of masa were made and pots of the prepared meat mixture were placed on the table. An assembly line formed around the table. First the corn husks were pasted with masa in a very correct method. You could not layer it too thickly for fear of making your tamales too doughy. Next, the meat was layered. This was also very precise. You could have meaty tamales, but not too meaty for fear you'd run out of meat. Next, each tamale was carefully wrapped in a tight wrap. Finally, the tamales were place round and round in a huge stock pot or canner, layer after layer and layer until the pan was filled. When many ladies came, we had four or five huge pots filled to the brim. After they were cooked, each lady took home 5 or 6 dozen for their families holiday meal. Delicious.
I also loved Barbacoa. We rarely had it. The old traditional recipe for barbacoa was to make it from the meat of a cow's head. Back then, in Michigan, you could never buy a cow's head at a grocery store. My father did have a few farmer friends and I remember a few times being shocked at the site of a frozen cow's head in our freezer. When preparing barbacoa, my mother slow cooked the head in the oven until the meat just fell off the bone. She used very little spices, mostly tender loving care. There was a simplicity to it. The taste was unbelievable, moist and tender. My father liked to save the cow tongue for sandwiches later. As far as the cow brains, my father said they were a delicacy and if you ate them, they made you smarter.
Menudo was another great treat. Many people call menudo a "hangover cure." It certainly has a unique taste. It's made with tripe (and sometimes pig's feet), white hominy, onions and spices -- especially chili powder. The tripe had to be carefully cleaned and soaked. This was a long, laborious process. After the cleaning and cutting of the tripe, then my mother combined all the ingredients in a pot and let it cook and simmer for hours before the taste was just right. You could only eat corn tortillas with menudo and my mother always chopped up fresh onions and lemon with it.
On Thanksgiving days, after church, our huge family gathered around the table, said a prayer, each announced what we were thankful for, and ate our delicacies. Turkey and corn dressing were always included in the menu, ending with one of my mother's amazing deserts. We only ate one meal on Thanksgiving Day, but often, it was the best meal of the year. And we, as a family, were all very Thankful!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. I had a wonderful family day. My oldest son, his wife and sons joined my husband son and I for a Thanksgiving feast. We enjoyed all of the usuals, Salad, Veggies, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Dressing, Broccoli, rolls and pumpkin pie with whipped cream for desert.
At the dining room table, we held hands and prayed a Thanksgiving prayer. Then, starting with our youngest grandson, we each said what we were most thankful for. Both before and after the feast, everyone watched football, football and more football. My grandsons already play in city league football so they were very in tune with the games. My daughterinlaw and I also studied the Black Friday ads to decide if we would dare go shopping and face those crazy crowds and traffic.
Throughout the day I kept thinking about how blessed I was, while knowing in the back of my mind, my brother is going through a medical crisis which will soon end his life. My brother, a veteran, is critically ill. His VA benefits have been quite helpful throughout his illness. His family has drawn so close through his illness. So much strength through such difficult times.
At the same time, I thought about how each of us respond to Holidays. My mother and father taught us many traditions, including Holiday celebrations and their relationships to God and to Family. My family has always upheld these traditions, keeping God and his Blessings included with them. That is why Thanksgiving has been so special to me. That is when Family truly spends time together appreciating one another.
My husband loves holidays too. He convinced me earlier in the week to go shopping with him so we could have our house decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving . We have most of the decorations, so we were looking to buy a few new lights and knick-knacks. We decorate both the Family Room and the Living Room. He takes one room and I the other. We always have a Nativity Scene on the mantle. I was looking to buy a new one. I thought for sure I could purchase a new Nativity Scene at Walmart. Nope. They didn't have one. I went to the manager and he said they were not selling enough of them to stock them. I went to Michaels - surely Michaels would have them. Nope. Michaels did not have them either. Finally, the only store I could find with a Nativity Scene was Garden Ridge and they only had ONE BOX SET. They did have a few group statues; the type that was melded together as in one big statue. I didn't want that. I wanted my separate statues, baby Jesus in a manger, separate sheep, etc. When we finally got home, I decided not to be mad at Michael's or Walmarts. After all, if people weren't buying them, then why should they stock them.
Thinking all of these thoughts, I came to the decision that on this Thanksgiving Day, I am most thankful to my parents for instilling traditions into our family, for being Christian, for believing in the Nativity - especially at Christmas time, for supporting and believing in the military, for believing and promoting education. Yes, my generation and my brothers generation are getting older, but thanks to my parents, we have lived long, fulfilling lives. We've had the opportunity to see what a great job they did for us and what we did in instilling these same values into our children so they can continue these traditions. I am also thankful and proud of my brother for having the strength and courage to take on so many challenges so bravely. Finally, I am so proud of my husband, my 1st son (and his wife), my younger son and especially my grandsons for being so loving, smart, athletic, Christian, America Loving, handsome and good to their grandparents.
All of these thoughts were rummaging in my head today as I opened up by laptop and decided to write my blog for today. I decided to just write these thoughts down for my blog and ask, what on earth are the ANTIs so afraid of with Latinos assimilating? Millions of Latinos are just like me. Christian. Family Focused. Military focused. AND...they have the Nativity Scene on their mantles every Christmas.
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite Holiday of the year. On this day, my family gets together. The women gather in the kitchen. The men watch football, always the Lion´s game.
Delicious dishes cook in the kitchen starting with Turkey, slow oven-roasted, stuffed with home-made cornbread dressing. The cornbread dressing recipe is a very old one received in the 1950´s from my Dad´s very best friend, Bill, his African American co-worker in the auto plant in Michigan.
Every year, as my husband is watching football and the turkey aromas are arising from the kitchen, he always swears he will not eat all day until dinner is ready. However the smells get to him by noon. I always have a platter of fresh veggies, cheese and olives ready for him to snack on. This year I am including another of his favorites, I call this snack weenie-deenies. They are little smoked sausages bubbling in barbecue sauce.
In the kitchen, the cooking continues. The dishes include home-made mashed potatoes and turkey gravy. This part is tricky. The potatoes are peeled, placed into a pot and boiled until almost tender. Then they are mashed, mixed with salt, butter and milk. Bowls of gravy are made from the giblet broth, drippings and flour, with a small mix of sautéed onions. The giblets are boiled to produce the broth. The broth for the gravy. The giblets for the cornbread dressing which also includes sautéed onions and celery.
Our family has always enjoyed vegetables. We like the basics, including fresh lightly boiled broccoli and corn.
Fresh rolls and a side salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese and olives top the feast. While some include cranberry dressing and sweet potatoes, we always opt not to include them.
Deserts, which we set on the side and save for later in the early evening, include home-made pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie with fresh made whipped cream. For those who prefer, we have home made pecan tarts.
We cannot begin the meal, however, without our Thanksgiving moment of Thanks. Each of us who surround the table give thanks! We each take a moment to say what we are most Thankful for from the previous year! Sometimes the comments are funny, but most times they are very touching. Our hearts swell with each word of thanks!
Our Family Loves Thanksgiving!
I wish you all have a Happy Thanksgiving too!!PS: As a Special Gift, I have added my favorite Thanksgiving Song in the Upper Right Hand Corner of my Blog. This reminds me of when I sang in my Catholic church choir. I LOVEd to sing this song! Believe it or not, I do have a nice voice.
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite Holiday. It is a family day. It is a time where families come together to celebrate their love for one another. 
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