Homecoming

Homecomings are fast becoming a thing of the past. Very few churches have them anymore and the ones that do are not attended like they once were. When I was a kid and even a young adult Homecomings were a thing that you looked forward to all year. If you had ever belonged to a church you always tried to make it back to Homecoming. I guess if you left mad you wouldn't but we never left a church mad at anyone. So it was a special time for us. 

When the Homecomings were at our church my mom would cook for the whole week preparing for it as did all the ladies in the church. Much the same as how I do today. You needed to be one of the first in line if you were to get any of Mrs. Spencer's chicken and dumplings or her chocolate pies. My mom was a good cook and would make huge pots of stuff but it was usually all eaten. 

Years ago we would have the meals outside on tables set up on horse saws. The air was hot and the flies were plentiful. Then eventually most of the churches had enclosed shelters or Fellowship Buildings. Most Homecomings are in the summer or early fall and it is usually hot. That is when the fans come out. We usually had fans provided to the church by a funeral home with their advertisement on them. But they sure came in handy not only to fan to be cool but to fan the flies away. 

For years Homecoming would last all day. We would have a special Preacher and special singers that morning and about 12:30 or 1:00 after hearing the preaching and singing we would go eat lunch. Lunch would last for about an hour and a half and then we would go back inside the church and we would have more singing and preaching until about 4:30 or 5:00. We usually didn't have night service. 

Now we don't have SS and we still have a visiting Preacher and special singers. Lots of times the Preacher is one that has previously been Pastor of the church. We do not go back in after lunch any more to listen to more preaching and singing. I think because people would be so full everybody would go to sleep. Ha, ha. And we do not have a night service. 

When we were going to House Mountain Church and I was singing with a group we were invited many times to sing at Homecomings. I will never forget when we were invited to a church somewhere between Halls and Powell and after lunch we started singing. The church was sitting on corner stones and when we began to sing the song "Ground Breaking"  the people began to shout and walk on the floor and James said he could feel the building shaking and thought that it might fall off the corner stones. There was also a graveyard beside the church that you could see out of the window and he said he looked for people to start coming out of those graves any time. We really did have some good times going to Homecomings and singing. 

Like I said at the beginning Homecomings are fast becoming a thing of the past. It is hard to get people to attend church any more for a regular service and then they don't want it to last more than an hour at the maximum. I am glad I have these memories of times past.

THANKSGIVING - PASSING THE TORCH

If you know anything about me you know that Thanksgiving has always been my favorite Holiday of the year. It was the one thing that I asked from my children when they married was to come home for Thanksgiving. I did not care what they did for Christmas, Easter or any other Holiday just to keep Thanksgiving as our family Holiday tradition. They all honored my request and that is the way it has always been.

Let me take you back to why it is my favorite Holiday. It was the time that all of my family went to my mom and dads. We all cooked for days and we all had our favorite dishes to make. All of the kitchen counters, the stove, the buffet were all covered with food. My mom always made chicken and dumplings and for my brother in law Onloe she made oyster dressing. Another one of my moms dishes was an apple cake. She would make it the day before and I have heard by the way of the grapevine that the missing piece had something to do with my sister June who lived right behind mom. Mom also made chocolate pies and slaw. The reason I remember the slaw is because she would forget to get it out of the refrigerator and would find it when we put leftovers in the refrigerator after lunch.  My sister June always made the ham. She also made baked beans, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs and a Milky Way Cake. And her Heavenly Hash became a favorite. And me? I made the Turkey and the regular dressing. I also made the potato salad, green beans, okra and corn. I was the only one that had a garden so I would always make sure I canned enough beans and put up enough corn and okra in the freezer to have for Thanksgiving. I also used potatoes out of the garden for my potato salad. My sister Mary and her family didn't always get to come for Thanksgiving because they lived out of town for so many years. They also took turns having Thanksgiving with Mary's family and Stanley's family. When their daughter and son started going to college at Pensacola Christian College in Florida they would not get enough time off at Thanksgiving to travel to Florida and then to Tennessee so they started having Thanksgiving with their family in Florida. One of our favorite foods Mary would make was her Pecan Pies. She would also help with the expense of the food. But a couple of memories of Mary on Thanksgiving was the year she was on a diet and we caught her hiding around the corner where the refrigerator was eating Chicken and Dumplings. Now don't get mad Mary its just that your sister June has an excellent memory. Also it was one Thanksgiving that she pierced June's ears with a needle and June thought she was dying. I asked my brother Ron about his memories of Thanksgiving and he said "Too much water has gone under the bridge." Ron and Pat also took year about having Thanksgiving with his family and her family. James always got up real early and went hunting on Thanksgiving. He always got back in time for lunch. Bill, Jim and John lived in other states and didn't always get to come home. Phyllis had Thanksgiving with her family.

Anyway Thanksgiving was always my favorite time. We all had such a good time. We would stay all day. It was usually cool enough to have a fire in the fireplace. It didn't matter if we had enough tables and chairs for everyone to sit at. If there wasn't we sat in the living room on the couch and chairs and if that wasn't enough we would sit on the beds. Never gave a thought about it being too crowded. After lunch was over and the dishes all washed, dried and put away the adults would sit around the dining room table and just talk. We talked about life and everything in general. But the conversation after a couple of hours of sitting there talking and going back and getting a piece of pie or cake or a little turkey or ham on a roll would end like this. "Monday I am going on a diet. Anybody want to go on it with me? " And of course everybody was all for it. Then the discussion would start about what kind of diet. The kids would all be in the other rooms playing or if it happened to be a warm Thanksgiving they would go outside and play.  Mulls used to always have a singing on Thanksgiving night and my dad loved to go. June and I would usually go with him and whoever else wanted to go.  Oh how I loved Thanksgiving. But after my mom passed away in December of 1992 things were never the same. The first year we went to my sister Junes house for Thanksgiving but it was decided after that we would all just have our own Thanksgiving. That is the way it has been for the past 27 years.

For 27 years I have had Thanksgiving for my family. The first year there were 11 of us. Over the years we have lost two of the 11. Now there is a total of 23 in our family.  We usually have others that eat with us. James sister Brenda and her husband has eaten with us the past few years since Barbara passed away and they always pay for the Turkey and Ham. We have always had a good time. I start my cooking usually on Monday and cook all week. I usually start with the Milky Way Cake and then get that Coconut cake in the refrigerator that has to "soak" for 3 days. The Turkey goes in the oven the night before and cooks all night. A lot of my Turkeys have been double breasted because so many like the white meat. Mary helps me with a lot of the cooking and so does Jennifer when she arrives from North Carolina. Josh and his family bring drinks and rolls and anything else that is needed. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without Mary's broccoli casserole, deviled eggs and mashed potatoes or Jennifer's candied sweet potatoes. I have no idea how many have come for Thanksgiving over the years. For many years as soon as we were finished or before we started I would fix plates of food and take them to Charles Mingie and Joyce Satterfield two of the residents at  Hillcrest where I worked.  After a while we became really crowded at our house. Putting 23+ people in my house makes it very tight so we started going to our church Fellowship Building for Thanksgiving. But again it is a lot of work to set up the building and for all of us carrying our food to the church. Carrying all the leftovers back home. It has really become too much work for me to do. So after much, much thought I have decided not to do Thanksgiving this year. I have talked to Mary, Jennifer and Amanda and told them of my decision. Although they are sorry we are changing things they understand and they seem to be ok with this. So this year I am "Passing the Torch". It will be interesting to see what traditions they all start with their families. And don't worry about me. I have already been invited to have Thanksgiving Dinner with ...............................and........................and...................................!!!!  A few pictures from the past Thanksgivings.