Traditional Thanksgiving

Growing up, Thanksgiving was a huge event at my grandparents' house. All estranged family members we never see would converge on my grandparents' house in a remote corner of the world. We would have turkey, stuffing (with the giblets), mashed potatoes, Grammy's homemade yeast rolls, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, both types of cranberries (the ones with sticks and the ones without), fruit salad and of course, different pies (pumpkin, lemon meringue, homemade venison mincemeat). I almost forgot the holy black finger food, olives! I was trying to remember the veggies we had. I think we would have salad, I don't remember eating much of it, but I am sure we had some. I had an aunt that was famous for creating the oddest, yet yummy salads.
We had so many family members we would have two different tables full of people. The kids would congregate in the "music" room around a table, the adults in the dining room overflowing into the rearranged living room. Us kids would play board games and try to stay out of the way. When the Atari was invented, we would hide in the back bedroom and play games like bowling and pong for hours until our enormous meal was ready.
As I grew older, I got the privilege of being the one to make the fruit salad. I would start early in the day with the cutting of grapes in half. Then slicing the canned pineapple and the maraschino cherries. I would squeeze them into the fridge so they could hang out together. The maraschino cherry juice dyes the pineapple pink. Then later in the day I would slice apples, bananas and open a can of mandarin oranges. I would add as many mini marshmallows as I could get in the bowl and mix it all together with whipped cream. I was and still am very proud of my fruit salad! It is yummy and a must for a Thanksgiving feast.