Friday, November 26, 2010

The Day After

Today is what is known in the retail world as "Black Friday,"when the masses descend on stores,fighting the crowds,to get those day after Thanksgiving deals. When I was in retail, I worked on Black Friday,opening the doors at 5:30 AM,and each year I was always shocked at how many people actually got up to get the stores that early. Not my thing. Now that I no longer work,it is not something I miss. In fact, I have never shopped on Black Friday. I don't like fighting crowds,and saving $10.00 on a gift is not worth the hassle for me. We start shopping in Sept,during the weekdays,and on line ( I love Amazon.com) Aside from a one or two little things,all our shopping is done. For those you who love the pushing,shoving,and waiting in line,go for it. I am quite content to stay in my little cottage,thank you very much!

Today is especially is a good day to stay home. We woke up to this:

You can't see it, but there are icicles hanging off the wheel well,and all along the bottom of the car.We have them hanging off the eaves of the house as well,but they are little ones. We had some freezing rain overnight and early this AM,making the roads slippery. There have been several small accidents and one big one on I-89 going towards Vermont.

My birthday was lovely. Aside from the cards I received in the morning, that night I received a Sgt Pepper CD from Zach,a flash drive from Brother B,and one of those pictures frames you can down load photos to,creating a slide show from Rick. I wasn't expecting anything,since I did receive My Precious and the cabinet. I also got a lovely cake:
Brother B said that Rick went through several cakes trying to find the right one. He would have made one himself,but they were quite busy harvesting turkeys. The candle was in the shape of a question mark in case I didn't want to admit my age,which I thought was cute.
Our Thanksgiving menu consisted of fresh turkey with Herb Butter rub (4 tablespoons butter,3 tablespoons each fresh rosemary and thyme-fresh from my herb garden-,and 2 cloves fresh garlic from my neighbors garden),apple and onion stuffing with gluten free bread crumbs ( I made the bread,toasted the slices,and cut them into cubes),cranberry sauce,pickles,olives,potatoes,sweet potatoes (with homemade brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon),peas,rolls, gravy,and homemade pumpkin pie (Sugar pumpkin from the garden)with gluten free pie crust. Dinner preparation was a mutual affair:Rick made the potatoes,sweet potatoes,and got the peas ready so I could sit and visit with my Mom,and before she came I had the turkey in the oven,stuffing made,pie baked, got the cranberry sauce and pickles chilling,and the table set.
Here is a photo of the dishes I was talking about:

My Mom said she was about 12 when the got the set,which makes sense,since the set was made in 1936-37,and she turned 12 in December of 1937.Like I mentioned earlier,it is called Green Wheat by Taylor and Smith. The pattern was discontinued 1939. I was interested in trying to find out about this line,so a couple years ago I went on line to try and find some information about it. At that point,I had the company name on the back of each dish,and the item numbers as well. I found it on a couple of websites- Replacements.com and Ohioriverpottery.com.My Memere had bought the set of 12,which came with 95 pieces,for $18.95. In 2008 to replace the dinner plates alone,it would cost $11.99 per plate-bringing the cost of just the 12 plates to $143.88. Can you imagine? However,it's not the cost of the set that I treasure-it's the memories and the history of them. These plates were used by my Memere and Pepere Charrette on holidays from the time my Mom was 12, which meant my Great -Grandparents,Grandparents,Mom,aunts,uncles,great aunts and great uncles,cousins and father all ate on them.The women cooked,and the men washed the dishes (my Pepere and father broke a few of the coffee cups while wiping because their fingers were big for the handles!) Then they were handed down to my Mom,and my siblings and their families ate on them.Now my family is enjoying them.So 5 generations have enjoyed meals on these simple,yet pretty plates. Since they were only used on holidays,it added a special air to the event to see the setting on the table. It brings back great memories.




1 comment:

  1. Donna, I love your plates, and the story about them. How lucky are you to have the plates, and such fond memories.

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