Always room at the table: Happy Thanksgiving! Carole Longo, a former Bradford resident who currently resides in New Hope, shared her memories of Thanksgiving growing up in Bradford.
“My Mom, the daughter of southern Italian peasants (condatini) immigrants, grew up in the Depression with 10 siblings and raised three children during two World Wars.
She never owned expensive china, silver utensils, crystal glassware or matching linen tablecloths and napkins. The small kitchen and last-minute guests never interfered with Mom’s main priority- Food and Love.
Preparing food, setting the table and cleaning up was a family affair. Two days before the feast, Dad peeled the apples for Mom’s five delicious pies. At 5 a.m., she prepped the huge 25-pound turkey then every two hours she got up to baste it.
Dad trudged up and down three flights to the cellar to retrieve three old doors and six sawhorses. The doors balanced on the saw horses created a sturdy extension for the small dining room table.
My job was to cut up celery, carrots and bread for the stuffing. Also, I rummaged through the cabinets for glasses, dinner plates and soup bowls.
On Thanksgiving Day, teenagers opened cans of corn, cranberries and olives. It was the custom to put an olive on a front tooth and smile. They also walked door-to-door to pick up extra folding chairs to seat 19 guests. Pre-teens set the table with paper table cloths, napkins, unmatched china.
Jelly glasses were used for orange soda or homemade red wine. Dad led a prayer thanking God for our blessings. The youngest guest who ate all the olives said he was thankful for candy. Dad’s cue to start eating was let’s play ball slap me the bread!
Clean up — especially washing the pile of dishes, greasy kettles and baking pans — lasted until 10 p.m. As we cleared the table, my cousin and I couldn’t resist the temptation to drink the leftover wine.
We didn’t know that alcohol would make us feel dizzy? I hung on to the stove as the kitchen rotated!
Thanksgiving was special. Mom made room not just for family but for anyone who was alone.”
