Remembering our Family Kitchen

I am going to posting my memories of my childhood home. My parents built the house when I was 6 years old and I lived there until I was 22 and married Steve. Every room has numerous memories. Today, I am going to think about the kitchen....

It wasn't a big kitchen. But a lot happened there. Our family dinner table sat in front of the sliding doors. We always sat in the same chairs. My dad at the end. We had family dinners every night. My dad got home at 5:30 and we usually sat down to eat as soon as he came home. My dad didn't like any other ethnic foods...we never had pizza, tacos, rice or anything like that. We always had a meat, potatoes cooked in some form, a vegetable and bread. We either had milk or tea to drink. Sometimes, my mom would put the bread in the crock pot and it would get warm and soft.

If dad came home in a good mood, we had a noisy, laughing dinner and if he wasn't in a good mood, it was a quiet one. Years later, I understood that he had colitis and was very ill many evenings, which had a lot to do with his demeaner. But as a child, I never understood that...I just thought he was grumpy those evenings. I wish he had told us.

The kitchen memories: once when dad was in one of his moods, he asked me to pass the bread. I don't know what possessed me, but I picked it up and "passed it"...a football throw from one end of the table to the other. He was an athlete...and he caught with a surprised look on his face. There was a moment of silence as everyone took in what I had just done. Then, a slow grin came across his face and he started laughing...so we all did, too. The rest of dinner was happy!

We had many a birthday celebration around the table...all of us at one time or another. One time, we even had party hats and cake for our dog Bobo. That was a good memory...his birthday was Jan. 19, btw. Dad also ate his cornbread in milk...we kids used to hate it..you could see the cornbread touching the sides of the glass and he would stir it and we would moan of how gross it was. He loved it!

For many years, Christmas was at my grandmothers but then it switched to our house. So on Christmas Day, our midday meal with my grandmother, her boyfriend, Paul, and my aunt and uncle and cousins were in our kitchen...although we ended up eating in several places though the years as we all grew up....the basement, the living room and even the garage so that we could all fit around one table.

After dinner, it was usually the job of the three kids to clean up. One of us would wash, one dry and one put away. Because it would make my brother, Steve upset, I won't tell you what really happened while we cleaned up. :)

We also colored eggs, played board games and did homework at the kitchen table. My dad would fix fudge...or TRY to fix fudge in the kitchen. He would get out the cocoa and start mixing it up, although most of the time, it was too runny and we ate it with spoons! He also would warm up milk on the stove and add cocoa to make us hot chocolate. We popped popcorn on the stove....not microwave then, but real kernels and shaking the pot as it popped.

Later, after I was engaged to Steve, he came and laid the new floor for us. I sat in the kitchen rocking in a chair as I watched him and the grooves are still on the floor! Oops!!

The kitchen is the first place we brought Abandon, the cat that Tom and I brought home...he was abandoned from a car driving in front of us and we brought him home. First he was in the garage and finally mom let us bring him in the kitchen...then he graduated to my room!!

We also left our winter coats, gloves, mittens and boots on the kitchen floor in front of the garage door...I guess eventually, mom picked them up for us.

I remember the dishes, the servings spoons, the serving bowls, the glasses, the revolving pantry doors and what foods we kept in them. I remember which drawers we kept the silverware in, the phone book, the paper and pencils, the bill box and the napkins. I remember where we kept the pots and pans, the kitchen towels and washcloths and the hanging tin cup we would drink out of. I remember mom leaving her jewelry on the kitchen window seal and how we had to tie a rubber band around the doorknobs of the shelves under the sink because they wouldn't stay closed.

We had an old, ugly green refrigerater forever!! Mom hung a picture of Tom Sellek on the fridge to tease dad. She kept the phone numbers of our friends and family on the inside door of the cabinet by the fridge and the keys on top of the fridge! We all would throw our keys up there!! The cat dish was in the kitchen. We never had a dishwasher...there wasn't really room and mom always said she had three dishwashers...haha...not funny! :)

When family came to visit or friends came over to spend time with us, most would come through the kitchen. Only strangers came to the front door!

Yes, our kitchen. It was small but it was mighty in memories. The last time I was in the house, I went out through the kitchen and into the garage. The kitchen ws the last room I said goodbye to. If I close my eyes, I can still see the five of us sitting around the table eating dinner.....