Buford's Thanksgiving


I remember those boyhood Thanksgivings of so long ago back in the hollow. Pap'd 
pull us older kids outta school sometime in late September to help bring in the 
crops.  Sure as rain, though, we'd have to go right back as soon as Thanks-
giving was over, and we couldn't miss a day because we never knew when the 
welfare peoples would show up and pass out winter clothes.

Us youngens'd go out and pick the corn and spade the potatoes and shell the 
beans and clean out the orchards and gather in the eggs and milk the cows and 
pick some more corn and tomatoes and lettuce and cabbages and pickles and 
pumpkins and such! Course, nuttin'' the hogs was already done, as we recalled 
the pre-pork treats!

Every year, Pap'd grab his shotgun and head out into the woods. He knew going 
over to Slankley's Pond was the best place to do his hunting. Sometimes he 
didn't come back for a couple days, but he always showed up in time to cook 
what he caught for the main course for Thanksgiving dinner.

I remember the year before I found out he had his still back there at Slankey's 
Pond. Guess him and Old Man Slankey must've shared it, although I don't 
recollect seeing him after Pap started heading back there.

Pap showed up Tuesday afternoon, and even with his glassy eyed weaving and 
bobbing, we could tell his sack contained the main part of our Thanksgiving 
dinner.

What a dinner it was that year! We had REAL meat for the mince meat pies! My 
sisters spent a week chopping up the pork bits and beef bits and chicken and, 
from a neighbor, a shank of mutton.  We didn't expect that, but he said he
decided to slaughter that lying sheep and didn't have enough room to store it. 
I still don't know what he meant by that! Course my one sister who's also a 
cousin accidentally whacked off one of her fingers, but after it was boned 
properly (the finger, not her) it seemed to add a bit of extra flavor.

Course, mama always made her famous pumpkin pies that everyone just loved! 
She'd roll out the dough as thin as she could, then she'd flip it right into 
the pumpkin shell that had been cut in half! Next, she put all the pie fillings 
in there! MMMMMmmmmmmmmmm, can't find pumpkin pies like mama's anymore!

Course, Thanksgiving being a religious type day, we all traipsed down to the 
church in the gully just like it was Sunday.  Pap would put on his Sunday Long 
Drawers and sit on the porch as we walked down the cowpath. Pap said you should
always look your best on the Lord's day!

Well, this year, it was a bit different, cause, on Thanksgiving Day, Pap not 
only put on his Sunday Best Drawers, but actually put on some pants and 
knocked some of the dirt off of his shoes! He was actually going to go to 
church with us!

We actually were the first to arrive. Old Pastor Jenkins was in a state of 
shock since he'd been by the house at least twice a week since I can remember 
to try and get Pap to go to church. Pap no sooner set foot on the bottom step 
when the building started to shake, and suddenly fell down! Pap just looked up
at Pastor Jenkins and said, "I Told ya so!"

Pastor Jenkins looked at the debris, but wasn't phased. He held the sermon 
right there on the church lawn. A few families were a bit upset, but when it 
came time to sing the hymns, Pap was right in there with the best and loudest 
of them as he snored through Old Rugged Cross, Jordan River, and Heavenly Lord! 
I never knew a man that what could snore on key like Pap could.

After church, we made our way back up the cowpath to the house. We knew it 
wouldn't be long before the rest of the relatives would show up. My one sister, 
Becky Ann Marie Bob, was going to be there with her new husband, Uncle Clem! 
Pap's folks were gonna be there, as well as their folks, too. It could've 
gotten a little crowded, but Grandma and Grandpa had the same parents, so that 
saved a couple seats.

Course, we all sat around the big table as Pap said the blessing "Thank God the 
food's ready!" and we'd all dig in.

That year was a really good year. Pap was able to bag 3 rock bass, two trout 
and a carp for dinner. Maw was great in fixin'' them up as she brought the tray 
of fish sticks in for Pap to carve! Pap could carve fish sticks like you 
wouldn't believe! He carved mine into the shape of a sail boat, and my brother, 
Uncle Jimmy Joe Bill Bob, had his carved to look like a Model T Ford! Pap was
real good with that knife of his, as we already knew from watching him nut the 
hogs!

That year was a little extra special, too. We wuz the first family in the 
hollow to get ourselves a TV set. Sure, the finance people kept comin'' around 
to try and get it, but I hadn't seen one since the day Pap nutted the hogs. 
That guy in his black suit walked up to Pap and said he was there for the TV. 
I don't know what Pap said to him, but whatever it was made the man turn green
while Pap showed him that he could nut a hog just by throwing his knife!

Anyway, we'd had that TV for about a year and a half, so we were already 
getting into the habit of, after dinner, huddling around it to wait for the 
football games, but like I said, this year was special because we had 
electricity! We'd never seen a football game, but my cousin, twice removed, 
Uncle Bob Joe Jimmy Bob, said he saw one once.

I'll tell you, I ain't never seen a football game like that one they had on PBS. 
I guess it was the Vikings that were playing, because they all wore horned 
helmets and sang a lot when they weren't killing anybody. They even had women 
folk on the field, and boy, could those fat ladies screech! I couldn't 
understand a word they said, but I recollect the hounds were trying to sing 
right along with them! Football games today seem kinda tame, although I can
understand the womenfolk's screeching a whole bunch better.  They's a lot 
skinnier than the women folk I saw in that first football game, and they don't 
wear as much. They jump around a lot, too.

Pretty soon it got dark, and we knew the moon'd be a rising over the mountain 
in a few hours. It was almost like old times as we kids all bundled up into the 
old feather bed in the loft, but you'd be surprised what that my sister and her 
husband did! It kept me awake most the night, 'til I finally told them to go do 
that in the barn like everyone else!

Yup, that was probably my most memorable Thanksgiving day ever!

Too bad you're only young once!

(c)1998 by John N! Swegan