Christmas Now.....................
Christmas Then...............
As we celebrate Christmas this year, lets try to keep in mind all the
things in our lives that we believe to be precious... Our friends, our
families, and all the memories that we have had this year that have put
a smile on our face... It's Christmas and it's time to say thank you for
all the good we were able to share.
Yes..... We still get together with family.... We exchange gifts.... We
eat We drink We talk We laugh....... It's a wonderful time of year...As
years go by, and our children and our grandchildren celebrate this
special day, I can only hope that the memories that they take home with
them, are as great as mine. Now, 62 years young, My memories of
Christmas as a child will always be with me...Early to bed on Christmas
Eve and nervous about what I would find under the tree in the morning.
Up around 6 AM, I remember being so happy to find that Santa had brought
me every thing that I asked for. The years passed by.... No longer a
little boy, I began to see a different part of Christmas. I saw that
Christmas was about family... Family spending time together. As a young
boy, growing up in an Italian family, I saw that the holidays spent
together with both young and old were some fantastic times. Christmas
dinner was always at my grandmother and grandfathers house. The were my
Norna and my Pappa. They owned a three tenement house on Allston Street
in Providence. It's the house we would all have dinner at every Sunday.
No one would even think to go any where but there for dinner. Sort of an
un-written rule. Norna and Pappa lived on second floor.. Aunty Vicky and
uncle Geets lived on first, and uncle Danny and aunty Arlene were on
third. Cousins on both top and bottom...Carol....Jerry... and
Darlene...The cellar belonged to all of them. It was actually the food processing
plant. In the big main room was a deep well Terrazzo sink and a huge oil
burning kitchen stove. One room was Pappa's wine room. I can still see
the oak barrels and the big hand crank press for the grapes that he grew
in the back yard near the shindy. I could never get that hand crank
handle to move an inch. One room was wall to wall shelves. It was full
of prepared foods stored in Ball Mason jars. Everything that Pappa grew
in his garden was prepared by Norna and put away for later... You name
it, It was on one of the shelves. Well, the cellar is where we all seemd
to fit on Christmas Day for Christmas dinner. Along with my Mom, my Dad
, my sister and me and the three families on Allston street, others
would also come to feast on Norna's cooking. The table, I'll say was
over 20 feet long and every kitchen chair from first, second, and third
floor was carried downstairs anong with Pappas old folding wooden
chairs. One way or another, we all had a seat..When it was time to
eat!!!!!! WE ATE.... Oh my God Did we eat!!! First came the Antipasto A
bed of lettuce or as we called it Insalata pronounced (Onzalath)..
on the bottom and covered with provolone and mozzarella cheese. That was
layered with Salami ,, Cappacolo (Gabagoul) ,, Italian Ham ,,,
Mortadella (Muth a del) Red roasted peppers, Italian olives, artichoke
hearts and anchovies. Fresh baked Italian bread, and plenty of olive oil
and red vinager. Next was the chicken escarole soup, loaded with the
tiny meatballs and the cut up hard boiled eggs. Pass me the
bowl of fresh grated cheese to sprinkle on the top. Clear the plates....
Here comes the Macaroni Could be Ravioli, could be Lazagna, or it could
be my favorite, Cavatelli. WE called them (Cavattis). Whatever it was,
it was home made from scratch on Norna's kitchen table. Norna always let
me cut the dough whenever she
made cavattis. Lets get one thing straight right now...There was no
Spaghetti Sauce... We are Italian. It's
GRAVY.....And at this house, it was
made fresh from the tomatoes and spices from Pappa's garden.
Nornas gravy was loaded. It had meatballs, sausage, braciole, (Bra
shall). It had pigs tail, cotechinata, pronounced (co thina). She
always had a giant meatball with a hard boiled egg inside. Don't
go anywhere
with that grated cheese and pass me the basket of sliced Italian
bread. I always knew that there
would be more to come after the macaroni. Sometimes it would be a
big ham and sometimes it would be a turkey. I never knew, but I
knew that there was more on the way. Don't let me forget the
stuffed peppers and the stuffed artichokes. They always came out
towards the end of the meal. Now
!!!! While all this food is being eaten, Pappa's home made red
wine was being passed around the table and the short stubby
bottels of Narragansett Lager Beer were not far from reach. Me, I
always had the Fanta Grape Soda.... Pappa always drank his wine
from his favorite glass. It was the glass jar that the Welch's
Grape Jelly came in.. Just perfect....Conversation around the
table varied. Some were all in Italian, and some were all in
English.
The English ones would sometime change to Italian if the topic was
one that little ones should not know about. So the table is
cleared again, and out comes the fruits and the nuts.. The old oil
burning stove that has been keeping us warm all day, is a flat top
black cast iron kitchen stove. Now the chestnuts, we know as (Kastanias),
are spread on top of the stove until they split open from the
heat. The orange peels are also laid out to sizzle and fill the
room with an aroma that I call "Christmas at Norna and
Pappa's House".
I was only a young boy back than, and somewhat oblivious to all
that was going on around me, but there is one thing that I knew
back than and I still know now. What was going on in that room, on
that day, was LOVE......My Family Together !!! Warm, Close, and
Happy...........And all at peace with each other...Today, we all
move so fast, and it's sometimes impossible to sit together as we
did back than as a family. Too many places to go and too many
people to see. I understand. I just wish that the youth of today
could have seen and felt what I did back than. Such great
memories.... Too bad we can only share them in words...That's why
they call them " THE GOOD OLD DAYS "
