Gobble Gobble

It Thanksgiving week! I really always loved Thanksgiving. As a child I spent it with my mother's side of the family. She is one of 9 children and each of those children have 5+ children of their own...so I have 50+ first cousins on that side of the family.

I LOVED having a big extended family. I'm very close still to my aunts and uncles and my cousins that were around my age. I could call them up or visit them at any time and that is a good feeling to have so many people that love you.

ANYHOW....on Thanksgiving we'd all get together at a highschool in Eastern Oregon (which is where we all lived and where my uncle was the PE teacher/coach...) and all the families would bring food and we would eat and eat and eat... I don't remember a thanksgiving where in my young mind there weren't at least 200 people present (everyone brought friends) or where anyone ever went hungry.

I'm sure my young eyes remember a great deal more food than perhaps was actually there, but recreating in my mind I see 7-8 gigantic 20-pound turkeys, 20 different types of salad, a pile of rolls as tall as me, and pies....at least 15 different kinds of pie. I remember my aunt's cement mixer that would make the mashed potatoes. It was a big commercial kitchen mixer but I always thought it was a cement mixer. And piles of stuffing, frogs eye salad, large ladle-filled bowls of gravy...food as far and as wide as the cafeteria counters would hold.

But my favorite part of Thanksgiving was always the pinatas. Multiple pinatas created for various age-groups of cousins. It was the highlight of the day. They let us hit at the pinata from youngest to oldest within that age group and the strength of the pinata was in direct proportion to how old you were...

The older you got the more like a rock they became.

We would hang the pinata from the basketball hoop, blindfold the "hitter", spin them around until they were dizzy then laugh hysterically watching them try and hit the pinata which one of my uncles would swing wildly and raise up and down. It was near impossible to hit it, but occasionally one of us would get lucky and land a solid hit that would split it apart.

Then came "the sweep." Its a strategic pinata move that all children who do multiple pinatas in their life eventually learn. It consists of a running leap into a knee slide with your feet touching and knees wide open. Your arms are spread wide with your face near the ground as you slide into the pinata candy and essentially sweep the greatest amount of treats into your holding pen.

Thanksgivings are much smaller now...quieter. I think we'll have 12 people at my house this year. But for my stepkids and nephews I'm definitely making a pinata...I'll be teaching this young generation "the sweep" this year.