Storytelling Sunday---Food in a large family

This week would have been mom's 80th birthday. It's still hard to believe that she's gone. Here's one for you, mom (actually, a lot of my storytelling has included mom).

On Friday morning, while Mindy was here getting ready for work, we started talking about food---one of Mindy's favorite subjects. I was reminded of what it was like growing up in a large family and the food issues that brings.

I'll start with our huge, round table that my dad had made especially to accommodate 9 people. In the center was one of those big lazy susan's so that all the food could revolve around. First of all, we didn't fill our own plates---mom or dad did it. You were expected to eat everything on your plate. We were the original members of the "clean plate club." There are a lot of stories revolving around what happened when you didn't finish your dinner or sitting at the table for hours trying to finish, but that's not where I'm going with this. We certainly had some unusual things to eat too. My parents ordered our beef straight from the farmers by the whole cow. That means you get EVERY body part there is. The tongue was downright disgusting. Nothing goes to waste in a large family. Mom canned, cooked, froze---just about everything she could get her hands on. We went blackberry picking, picked up wild crabapples, shucked hundreds of ears of corn, snapped beans and peas, you name it, she did it all and we were required to help.

Mom wasn't a baker, so desserts were not a big thing around our house. Our best months of the year were January---4 birthday cakes, February---2 birthday cakes and October---3 birthday cakes. Luckily, there were enough Baptisms, First Communions, Confirmation and other religious holidays that we got our fair share of desserts---just not daily. We all spent our allowance on candy---we NEVER had candy at home.

We loved going to our grandpa and grandma Preli's restaurant, The Normandy Cafe. We could only go about once a month because they wouldn't let us pay and my dad did not want to take advantage. We could have anything we wanted including cream soda and bread pudding.

What we didn't have were lots of store bought treats. Mom got to drink soda at meals which as kids we thought was totally unfair (of course, you could NEVER complain). We drank milk or water, never Kool Aid like the rest of the neighborhood kids.

Saturday nights were our big treat of the week. Sometimes we'd go to the drive-in. We'd make our own popcorn and we'd get to have Cokes---those cute little 6 oz. bottles (one each---there's a 6-pack). The big kids---myself, Ronnie, Janice and Jennifer get to sit on the roof of the car---I can still remember that thrill. Cars were made sturdier and the roof didn't cave in. By the time the kiddie show was over, most of the kids were asleep. Since I was older, I might still be awake, but trying to go to sleep---the adult feature was starting and not appropriate for kids. On one of those occasions when I was having a problem falling asleep, they didn't know I was still awake. That's when I realized that dad would sneak off to the snack stand and get ALL kinds of good food for he and mom---hot tamales, hot dogs, ice cream, malts. I remember once, getting to share in a little of that---as long as I was quiet and didn't wake up the "kids." That was a big deal. I did get a lot of privileges as the oldest---but also a lot of responsibility too. I have really fond memories of those drive-in movies. Plus, we always had a regular car---never a station wagon---and we could all fit in it.

If we were home on a Saturday night, we'd watch "Saturday Night at the Movies" on our own tv. We'd have popcorn and dad would make malts. It would take the entire half gallon of ice cream and we wouldn't even get that much, but what a treat. We had the metal cups that got all icy and cold and froze your hand. We got to have our snacks in the living room where floor space was a premium. In hindsight, our house was pretty little for our big family. That didn't matter.

Mom would buy food on sale and store the extra on shelves in the basement. During the 1960's, manhattens and whiskey sours were the drinks they enjoyed and served to friends. There were people at our house all the time. Mom sent one of the kids downstairs to get a jar of cherries for the "company's" drinks. All that was left on the shelf was the empty jar with the cherry juice. We had eaten all the cherries. That's one good thing about a big family---regardless of who has the bad idea, we all participated and we all got in trouble. There was no such thing as tattling as we all had "stuff" on each other. That worked for us.

I'd have to say the worst thing we kids did was sabotage mom's Christmas cookie efforts. Mom was the MOST organized person you'd ever want to meet. She started baking cookies months ahead and put them in tins in our huge, deep freeze---the type that the door lifted up---and you'd get shocked if you were barefooted on the concrete floor while opening it. Anyway, by the time Christmas rolled around, and mom went to retrieve the cookies, all the tins were EMPTY---except for those Italian sesame things. OMG! I can still remember how that started. We each had one cookie---so that'd be 5 (at the time). We'd even out the cookies so you couldn't tell that some were missing. The next time it was 2 and we kept doing it. We'd say that we had to stop, but we just couldn't. I can't imagine how mom must have felt. I'm sure later----much later, it might seem funny. But believe me, I do believe I can still feel the sting on my behind from that one! And of course, the required, "Barbara, you're supposed to be setting a good example for your younger brothers and sisters," right before marching me up to confession. I can't even blame any of the kids. It's not like just one of us came up with bad ideas. We all had them and we all followed along. When it comes to cookies, the "Christmas Cookie Caper" could very well have been MY idea.

I'm telling you, I would not have traded a moment of it. Growing up in a big family was the BEST!!!