Thanksgiving brings special memories to me. My mother's birthday was November 24th so some years her birthday landed on Thanksgiving. She was not a brilliant cook but this was a big deal for her and she went all out. We were a family of four but she cooked a 20lb turkey with many side dishes because she would take the food to my father's family in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across the border to share with my aunt and cousins. They were of very limited financial means so it meant a great deal to all of us to have that meal together.
My mother once accidentally dropped a can of pitted black olives into her stuffing and strangely it became what she was known for and her love of canned cranberry sauce. My Mexican cousins were so fascinated by the entire meal but especially the sauce because of the taste and the weird sound it made coming out of the can and the rings on it. They always giggled at how it wobbled on the plate. She always served everyone slices of the stuff on that olive stuffing. Obviously, I wasn't a fan of either at the time.
Mom died in 1981 when I was 10 and my father always insisted on me and my 18-year-old sister making that Thanksgiving meal so that we continued that tradition for my aunt and her kids. So, we had to learn that yucky stuffing recipe and always bought that weird can of cranberry sauce until my aunt's death in 1995.
Funnily enough, my sister still makes the stuffing for her kids and I buy the can of cranberry sauce in a can. I don't even cook a turkey but I always have that sauce. I treat it like membrillo (quince) paste with cheese and crackers. Someone has to try to sophisticate that stuff up!
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