Thinking About Thanksgiving
I have been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving as I do every year. One of the fun parts about Thanksgiving is recalling the chaos and love surrounding the annual dinner at my grandparents home on 23rd Avenue in the Lewisdale community in West Hyattsville. My beloved Grandmother Gross was a certified Kitchen Martyr. She worked hard to present a proper table and made sure we all knew it. The meal included fresh mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans (plain, before the famous soup casserole entered our lives), and sauerkraut - since Grandma was a Baltimore girl. The setting was finished off by a four-section cut-glass dish piled with celery, carrot sticks, olives, and gherkin pickles. Grandma knew how to plan a meal and set the table. The Martyr part usually began with her enlisting my Grandfather's help with the words "John, must I do everything for this meal - would you PLEASE ask people what they want to drink!" You see, the beverage ...