Thoughts for Thanksgiving

This is such an American holiday, and yet it's one for the world. Everyone has reasons to be thankful, even if they're not always obvious. And a holiday that revolves around family and a chance to be thankful is a great blessing.

Growing up in Ireland, we always relished Christmas. That was a time for families to get together and enjoy the long break from work, good food and tall tales from our past.

In our case it was horror stories. Like the time my Mum was making fondue for a dinner party and I handed her bread soda instead of cornstarch. I remember the pot of fondue boiling over on the stove and the smell of burning cheese.


So it wasn't the best of dinner parties. But it did make for a great Christmas story.

We had a stove called an Aga. As you can see from the picture it was like a range and not really a traditional way of cooking. In our kitchen we had a stool to the right of the stove where you could sit by it in the winter time and be nicely warmed.

It was definitely the focal point of our kitchen and so the kitchen was the focus of the house.

Another random Farrell story, maybe even a bit of family legend. When my sister heard that we had chickens, she reminded me of an aunt of my mothers.

This aunt was a wonderfully colorful woman who owned a small farm on the northside of Dublin. She was a heavy smoker and when we visited her we'd often find her sitting in the kitchen beside her Aga with a cigarette in her hand.

And on her lap would be a big red hen. As she talked she'd stroke the hen, who was clearly used to this treatment.

This is not a family tradition we've carried over here with us. Though our Aunt Betsy certainly seemed to find it relaxing, I'm not sure whether it was the cigarette or the hen relaxing on her lap.

I wish you all safe travels for Thanksgiving and much to be thankful for.

Labels: chickens, nablopomo, thanks, travel

posted by Bernard @ 10:15 AM