Home » Reading & Literature » Folklore » Thanksgiving at Old House

Thanksgiving at Old House

© Virginia Marin

Folklore Table of Contents

And, welcome to Thanksgiving at 1890 Old House! I love this old house! It was a wedding gift to my maternal grandparents, but had been built as the home of the town's first medical doctor. I named it Old House in 1976.

It proudly sits on a larger than large corner lot, a block from an old cemetery at least as old as the house. Old House shares the land with giant oak trees, pecan and apple trees and my favorite--a fig tree.

Wearing grey paint with darker grey and white trim, it happily sports a wrap-around porch and seven gables. All rooms open off from a center hall and each room has a fireplace. There are three baths, each with the original claw-foot tub, and very, very slow running faucets! Don't visit me in the heat of summer or in the cold of winter, because there is no central anything. And, like many old homes, mine also has its resident ghost, who seems not to mind at all that I call him (or her) "Itsy".

Many memories and stories are at rest within these walls, and at night the wood groans to be relieved of its tales. I often sit, listen and imagine the sound of feet on bare floors, and the happy laughter around my grandparents' earlier Thanksgiving tables.

But those days belonged to them. Their time contained their happiness, their sadness, their hopes and dreams, their accomplishments, defeats and their traditions. These are not for me or for my children or grandchildren. Our days hold our own.

So, on the first day of fall each year, my very special harvest wreath leaves a lonely attic repose to be given its predilection for the front door. Come on in! I'm in the kitchen. From the front door walk down the hall and straight back, through the screen porch and turn left. Make yourself comfortable at the large oak table and have a cup of elderberry tea or a taste of blackberry wine.

I have just started my first fruitcake. Actually, before the week is out I will have made two light fruit cakes, two dark fruit cakes--and several individual loaf fruit cakes for friends. All will be wrapped in cheese cloth and given a nice little wetting with blackberry wine for dark cakes and whiskey for the light cakes. Then they will be tightly sealed in tins and stored in the big old pantry to age until Thanksgiving Day and Christmas.

The copyright of the article Thanksgiving at Old House in Folklore is owned by Virginia Marin. Permission to republish Thanksgiving at Old House in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.