Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Celebrating New Year's Day...a Long Time Ago

     When I was a child, in the forties and early fifties, we celebrated New Year's Day with a meal and day similar to  Christmas with out the gifts. The menu was the same.

     We alternated celebrations with Mom's cousin. The big meal took place at noon. The cousins would arrive by horses and sleigh. This was not a fun sleigh ride but was the standard and only transportation at that time.

     We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, veggies, cranberry and lots of pickles. There were usually twelve of us and we were all boys with big appetites so there wasn't much left. Delicious pie capped off the meal.

    Now I remember the delicious turkey. It wasn't the super dooper butter ball turkey which is filled full of sugar and other junk to make it taste better. We just had a plain old turkey that lived on the yard all summer where it ate grasshoppers, bugs, blades of grass, weeds and seeds. They were also fed some grain. They were the turkeys that really had flavor. To eat the turkeys sold today almost makes you cry.

    Now the afternoon was spent visiting and playing games. Sometimes the monopoly game went on all afternoon.
  
     Around 4:00 PM the Dads would go out and do the chores. The cows still had to be milked and fed.

    The evening meal was made from left overs of the noon meal. Much Christmas baking was still available and on the evening menu. After supper, more visiting and games. Sometimes there was singing. To wind all this up, there was cold turkey and ham at midnight with tea and more great Christmas baking. 

     So you see it was a full day of celebration.

    So New Year's Day , when I was a little kid, was an all day celebration.

33 comments:

  1. Sounds like it was a great way to bring in the New Year .
    Wishing you all the best in 2014 Red.
    Happy New Year.
    Willow

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    1. I think the big feast on New Year's day is gone. Thanks and a Happy New Year to you. I'll look forward to your posts.

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  2. Some things should just never change. It sounds like your New Year's Day celebration was wonderful!

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    1. It was wonderful and well suited as we were shut in for much of the more severe winter.

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  3. I was just thinking today that the big New Years Day dinners and celebrations seem to have come to an end. Now people recover from the late night before and then get out for walks or something active. It;s probably healthier, but not nearly as special.

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    1. Not to forget that those dinners were a tremendous amount of work. I don't know how my Mom did it.

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  4. Sounds like fun! I would have loved the sleigh ride. s long as I was bundled up!
    No matter what, we still have to tend to the animals here. They don't care if you have a headache! They want their food! :)
    How times have changed.

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    1. The food and social aspect were what really kicked. I still don't think sleigh rides are cool. We froze our butts off for too many trips.
      Yes, at that time all animals were tied in a stall. they had to be fed and watered.

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  5. I was just trying to recall whether I had any lunch yesterday. That's how different things are for me. We had a big evening meal - all family together up at The House on the deck in the fading sun. All a bit different from the US idea of a celebration I think.

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    1. Well, we certainly couldn't eat out on the deck. New Years isn't a big celebration any more.

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  6. That sounds like such a special day! Lots of good food, family, games--all good things! Wishing you the best in 2014!

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  7. A great day or even week. It is very difficult to find good food these days and when one does the price is prohibitive.

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    1. Food is made for transportation and non spoilage. After that the consumer is forgotten.

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  8. Happy New Year! It was the same at my Grandparents when I was growing up...another big meal with tons of dishes to do. I don't know how my Grandmother did it. I like dark meat, I think it has more flavor. I would like to try one of the wild turkeys once..to compare, but then I would need a license to shoot one and then I would have to clean it. Sounds like lots of work. I will quit rambling now! I enjoyed your memories, I think a sleigh ride would be great fun:)

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    1. The worst part of preparing a bird is getting the feathers off. the other parts are easy. To this day I'm not fond of sleigh rides. i had one too many trips freezing my butt off.

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  9. Fine memories, my friend. May 2014 bring you plenty of happiness and may your excellent blog keep blogging

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    1. Thanks and a very happy 2014 for you. I look forward to your posts.

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  10. I do remember how range fed chickens tasted. Poultry today is not at all like that.

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    1. The birds in the old days were not penned and got exercise and had more muscle.

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  11. It was for us too Red - we had aunts n uncles n cousins that would come to visit and would have somewheres near 26-28 for New Years dinner. I agree with you about the turkeys today - I do not buy them. I am able to get free range chickens and turkey - would not want one of those really fat buttered up chickens - Yech. Dad would bring em home and we all learned to get em ready for the oven - cleaning and stuffing.
    My Mum loved to ring in the New Year with the "Banging of the Pots", which I am sure every Canadian knows about.....and you had to use the large meta cooling spoons - I always thought that was so neat - all the neighbours would be banging pots at midnight - like a domino effect down the road. Mum would wake us up for this fun every year I remember :)

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    1. Sorry. Banging of the pots is unheard of here. In the old days , the odd shot gun vibrated the night air. The big family get togethers were very meaningful. The history was passed down.

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  12. The life as a child was simple but good, it is nice to have the memories alive. Special that the visitors came by sleigh, but very understandable. That was the only way to go somewhere.

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    1. Our parents gave us a strict but secure upbringing.

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  13. How wonderful it all sounds. One year long ago, my parents decided to go to a turkey farm and buy a turkey that was freshly killed. Then they had to clean it, and out in the garage I heard my dad as he did the deed as my mom read to him out of a how-to book. It was the last time. :-)

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    1. Big mistake. You learn preparing meat by working with others with hands on experience. The plucking of feathers is the worst job. I hated plucking feathers.

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  14. that sounds really wonderful. simple fun, good food and family gathering.

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    1. It's all the things you say and there was no TV.

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  15. At the end of the day, it's about the people we share that time with. That's certainly what adds magic to the holidays. Happy New Year!

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    1. I like the term "magic" as it really describes the situation.

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  16. It sounds great, except for the cow milking part. I wonder if your memory and fondness for bygone times made those turkeys seem to taste better than they did.

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    1. You Have a point about the nostalgia aspect. We tend to think things were better long ago. Maybe our appetites were better.
      Milking cows? I complained as a kid but it was actually rather pleasant. You could put things on automatic pilot and be in another world.

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  17. I actually remember visiting my grand-parents in a "cutter"(sleigh). There was a buffalo fur you pulled over you and on the floor were bricks that had been put in the oven. The most vivid memory is of the bells that jingled when the horse moved (and of the cold).

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