Grandma's Attic

A LATE THANKSGIVING POEM

Over the river and through the woods, it just isn't true any more

My Grandma lives in an apartment

and we drive right up to the door

'cause the snow plow came ealy and scraped off her sidewalk

No need for the horse or the sleigh

If you sit and long for the days that are gone

You better wake up! 'cause today

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Grandma hasn't been up half the night, making great preparations

with the big turkey looking so grand

Grandma's a gal of the future!

She let WALMART take their knife in hand

and the turkey was cooked, pulled apart, and the pressed back together

pushed back inside of its skin

and all Grandma does is just heat it a bit

dinner is almost ready, DIG IN!

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Remember that mound of potatoes, all smashed after peeling and cooking and such?

My Grandma just calls BETTY CROCKER

who has them ready and they do not cost much, you just heat up the milk

add some water and butter and stir

and like magic! potatoes appear

Stir the package of gravy mix into the water

and we know dinnner is getting quite near.

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somehow I miss all the smells of the past with onions and celery boiling

for stuffing now STOVE TOP replaces the smells

and elimanates most of the toiling

My Grandma then opens a big can that has sweet potatoes, all peeled, cooked and golden

She puts on brown sugar and butter and pops them in the oven

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Now in the past days called OLDEN my Grandma spent houRS making salads, setting this,

peeling that, all day through

but now she just drops in to SAFEWAY

where the deli has several

and you simply give them some money, a half pound of this, one of that

and you're off to the freezer to see what kind of pies Grandma is planning this year

with the help of her friend SARA LEE

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When Grandma was young she made all kinds of pickles

and she thought that the praise was divine

but now she buys VLASICKS at Albertson's

and she says, "They're exactly like mine"

and the corn that she used to grow, husk, and prepare

and put in the bottles so fine, have now been replaced by a small box

in the freezer, and she says, "BIRDSEY'S better than mine"

We just pop in the microwave, give it a spin , add some butter

and it's time for the rolls to begin

No kneading, no yeast, just open the sack from the bakery

and its time to dig in!

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Well , in a flash dinner's gone and it doesn't much matter

if the cooking took hours or days

Everyone's happy on holidays, and everyone sings Grandma's praise

and then Grandnpa says, "I'll do the dishes", gets out a glad bag

and dumps all the trash out of sight

Silverware, dishes, disposable everything but No bones to pick for tonight when its all said and done, it's the fun

not the food that we went for, and the love we could feel

and the cousins and all of the relatives close that makes

Thanksgiving memories real and there's one thing that no one has started to package

One thing you can't buy at the store

That is the hug that my Grandma still gives to the kids

when they come in the door

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