Do You Really Need a Turkey?

Having a feast on Thanksgiving without the turkey isn't hard at all. While the Pilgrims probably ate wild turkeys, the probably ate many other kinds of fowl, venison,seafood, and various other wild meats. They ate what was readily available to them. Why shouldn't everyone? I can't really recall having turkey at home as a child. Whenever we were home for Thanksgiving, Mom made homemade biscuits and cooked cranberries for breakfast. We buttered the biscuits and poured the hot, tangy berries over them. It was so good!
The reason we never had turkey at home was because Daddy hates any kind of poultry. He calls them "barn yard buzzards." Mom always baked a ham with pineapple and brown sugar. We always had green beans, mashed potatoes, cornbread, and some kind of desserts.
We usually visited with grandparents for Thanksgiving. I remember one year when we were visiting our Grandpa and Grandma in West Virginia. My sister and I begged Grandma to fix a turkey for dinner. They were good Christians and would not tell lies, but they were good at being evasive! When we asked about a turkey, we were told to "wait and see." Grandma had a chicken house full of chickens. They got up really early in the mornings, so that is probably when they killed their biggest chicken, cleaned, and plucked it. When dinnertime came, Grandma carried in a steaming bird on a platter with stuffing oozing out. We were so excited. That was our first turkey. We ate it and never knew the difference. Nobody told us it was a turkey, but nobody told us it wasn't!
I don't remember ever having turkey when we visited our Grandma in Kentucky. She made some really good fried chicken, banana pudding, and pineapple salad. Whenever we visited our Mamaw in Ohio, she always made a beef roast for Daddy and anyone else that didn't care for turkey.
It wasn't until I got married that I became used to having turkey for Thanksgiving. Nobody even knows whether the Pilgrims had turkeys for their feast. The records say they had '"fowl." None of the records specified any of the fowls as turkeys. They had venison, but I only know a few people that eat deer meat for Thanksgiving dinner. They probably had pumpkins, cranberries, and sweet potatoes, but no sugar to sweeten them with. They had no flour to make pies, cakes, or cookies. They didn't have any of the things that we now think of as a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving is not about what we eat. It is about being thankful for what we have to eat. It's about gathering with family and friends and thanking the Lord for all of the blessings He has bestowed on us.

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