I remember back in the day, two things happened in Chicago: 1) the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival on Michigan Avenue and 2) when it snowed before Thanksgiving, signaling it was full steam ahead for Christmas and all of its celebrations leading up to December 25th.
After all of the Halloween candy was eaten up, preparations for Thanksgiving began. Mom would go grocery shopping for the foodstuffs, usually dragging me along. To this day, I’m not too fond of grocery shopping. When I go, I am armed with a list, purchase the necessary items, and leave.
Approximately the weekend before Thanksgiving, my sisters and I would bundle up and head downtown to Michigan Avenue to watch Mickey and Minnie Mouse light up the street from Oak Street to Wacker Drive. It’s nice being among the thousands of people who came from out of town and all over the city to witness the pomp and circumstance of the event. Afterward, we came home and prepared our bellies for the coming day of gorging.
I remember the day before Thanksgiving, all of us students would be ready to race home for the four-day holiday. When the bell rang to signal the last day of school, all of us students made a beeline to the bus to get home. I would get home to see my grandma cooking some of the foods we were to have. The rest of the food had to wait until Thanksgiving Day.
As an adult, I have been a part of Friendsgiving, meaning some of us didn’t go home when I lived in Detroit and Houston. We decided to have dinner with each other. I’ve told the story of the one Thanksgiving I experienced when I made my grandma’s sweet potato pie and never saw non-melanated guys eat a whole pie for themselves. I think they liked that better than pumpkin pie.
Now that Zora is growing, I want to teach her how to make a simple apple pie and other foods associated with Thanksgiving. She learned about the harvest and the first Thanksgiving in school. I have some questions: How do you roast a turkey, and how long do you unthaw one before it cooks? How do you make dressing, stuffing, and gravy from scratch?
That’s it for now. I have to start cleaning and figure out what’s for dinner between today and Wednesday. See you in the next post!
