Happy Monday. I love Mondays. I’m grateful for every one of them, as they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you.
It’s the final week of November, which is, among other things, National Gratitude Month. Additionally, for 2025, this Thursday is celebrating… Thanksgiving Day, which is the ultimate day for gratitude. Mom used to say that gratitude is having a grateful attitude.
Mom was raised to be grateful, everyday, for everything – not just for Life’s gifts, but also for Life’s challenges. She learned to confront and overcome, empowering her to do more rather than discouraging her to fail, as failure was never an option her faith would allow in.
Mom often wrote in her hundreds of newsletter issues and several dozens of books about being grateful for all we have and for every day we are given because nothing in life is promised or owed to us. That’s how I was raised to be, as well; having a grateful attitude. I raised my own children like that, too.
“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop
Growing up during the “Great Depression”, my parents were raised to be grateful for everything. Their parents and grandparents were raised by immigrants, who came here with nothing but dreams of better lives than they had in the turmoil from where they came. They too knew that gratitude was having a grateful attitude.
It’s not “Rocket Science”. Start by practicing daily thankfulness and appreciation. Say thank you and give a compliment at least once, every day. Appreciation is always appreciated. It feels good, making others feel good. In fact, it’s known to be contagious, as receivers become givers, too.
“I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased.” – Oprah Winfrey
Don’t wait for Thanksgiving Day – be grateful for something today… and, again, tomorrow, and the next day. Not too long ago, I heard about a daily gratitude app for my phone to remind me to take a minute, stop what I’m doing, and be grateful for one thing. Or keep a daily journal, writing down one thing for which you’re grateful. It can be a quick note.
Mom kept journals from the time she was a young girl, in which she wrote daily about gratitude. Even on her worst days, she was still grateful for the learning experiences. This attitude of gratitude was instilled in Mom by her mom.
Thank your cashier at the busy grocery store and the stocking clerk who found that one item for which you were looking high and low. Thank the person who delivers your mail, as well as those who collect your trash. Thank the police officers and fire fighters that protect your neighborhood. The list can be endless. It takes only a second to say, “thanks”.
FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
No Laughing Matter [a syndicated series of editorials by Gloria Pitzer (circa 1970s – 1980s)]
‘TIS THE SEASON TO BE THANKFUL AND/OR JOLLY
I AM CONCERNED THAT each year it becomes more and more difficult to find the tradition of Thanksgiving being celebrated with the same spirit that we enjoyed in our childhood, and our parents in theirs. You certainly don’t have to celebrate the occasion extravagantly.
And you don’t have to feel that the glorious glossy photos in the countless magazines on the newsstands have set the standard that we must be obligated to follow. The world has always had its poor and unemployed, and people have always gone to bed hungry in every generation.
When our children were very small and our struggles seemed hopeless, I remember that had it not been for our backyard garden, a few apple and pear trees in the back, and good fishing in the river “out front”, we would have sent our children to bed hungry, many a night. But we didn’t.
Being products of the [Great] Depression of the 1930s, Paul and I remember how to make more from less, during those times. It was always sufficient. And we always looked toward the day when there might be “more”, making it a goal that enabled us to take on many an undesirable job for meager pay, just to keep going.
Our married daughter still has the rag doll I made her one of those Christmas holidays, designing it from one of my old skirts and blouses, stuffing it with old nylons.
I had forgotten all about it, until I saw the pathetic little thing sitting on her dresser, one day, and said it looked familiar. She keeps it, she confessed, to remind her of how much she has now and how far we have come, by working hard and caring!
Thank Heaven that for every 10 people you meet, who don’t care about anyone or anything these days, you’ll meet one who does! It isn’t a national statistic, but there’s every reason to believe it’s a growing epidemic that has us believing it’s now unfashionable to be either thankful and/or jolly!
It’s a wonder somebody didn’t try to cancel Christmas! I mean, after all, most people seem to forget that problems aren’t necessarily promises – lasting conditions that can’t be cured so must, therefore, be endured!
Maybe our biggest problem these days is that people don’t seem to like each other as much as they used to. I saw a sign in our local catalog store, advertising a new game to give for Christmas. It’s a jigsaw puzzle for folks you don’t like. None of the pieces fit together and the four corners are missing!
There was a time when people DID like each other, that our manners were morals, and discarding litter on the public roadside wasn’t considered a problem of the ecology but bad manners.
When was the last time you could nod, smile, and say “hello” to a stranger in a supermarket or on the main street of town and not get a look right back that said, “What in the world are you talking to me for?”
Even traffic signs have changed from an ordinary “Please, approach intersection with care” to little drawings that totally eliminate language. The walk/don’t walk signs fascinate me the most. It’s as if they were invented to give you something to think about, as you cross against the light.
On the other hand, in downtown Pearl Beach, where we have lived a long time, they always have to be different. We have one traffic sign that reads: “Walk!”, “Don’t walk!”, and “Run like the devil!”
A lot of people aren’t even going to have the traditional turkey at their holiday dinner table. If you’ve seen the prices lately, than you know why we now say that “a bird in the hand” isn’t even worth anything, unless you can get financing. Money may not buy happiness anymore but it can sure get you an appointment with the IRS!
It’s difficult to live in a world that now bases its entire system of values on the dollar – difficult but not impossible. Perhaps we have also forgotten to be thankful, really thankful for the good; since today, We’ve made television our bible and the news analysts our priests.
We have replaced that “poor-but-honest” image of the founding American with a hopelessness that things will never be right again, unless we get everything we want, rather than be thankful if we only get what we “need”!
In other words, we should be thankful for the good already received before we can expect to receive more but we forget. And the television news analysts continue to harp on our hangups.
But in a fine print reference, I noted one news commentator talking about the millions of Americans that will be eating “stale bread” this Thanksgiving, forgetting to mention that the cookbooks call it “stuffing”.
If we can’t think of one thing to really be thankful and/or jolly about this year, perhaps we should consider what would’ve happened to us, had our pilgrim ancestors decided to celebrate that first Thanksgiving with STEAK!
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward
Mom was extremely grateful for her appearances on the Donahue Show, in 1981 and 1993, the former was from which we were inundated with a million letters. It brought her unique style of “copycat cookery” to the attention of MILLIONS, fairly quickly, even though it was long before household internet existed.
Mom felt very fortunate, as it opened a lot of doors for her. The small family business boomed and, even though the initial experience nearly crushed our family’s cottage-style operation, all parties involved survived and eventually benefited from the wild experience.
“That for which I am most grateful, however, as I see how our family has worked together in helping us to build this dining room table enterprise into a substantial and professional operation, is the friendship that has grown over the years between [Paul, me and] the five children… My cup runneth over!” – Gloria Pitzer, My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 12)
Mom was also grateful for her readers, as well as her media friends – especially those in the radio broadcasting industry, all of whom were with her from the very beginning of her Secret RecipesTM career, until she had to fully retire in 2014.
She felt blessed for her many fans and followers who kept her inspired for 40 years, investigating the food industry for their ongoing requests to find the “secrets” to making their favorite dishes or a hard-to-find grocery products at home.
Being grateful for anything and everything is as much a part of the preparation for Thursday’s big celebration as the turkey and all the trimmings that will grace our tables as we gather together, to feast. Consider giving thanks – not only in prayer before your Thursday meal but also directly to everyone with whom you come in contact.
LAST THOUGHTS…
Don’t forget, this is also the last week of Family Stories Month and National Life Writing Month. Thanksgiving’s gathering is an ideal time to start recording your family’s favorite stories, as well as that for which/whom they’re grateful.
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.
IN CLOSING…
Today is also… National Sardines Day. Sardines aren’t everyone’s cup-of-tea but Mom loved them. In honor, here’s her secret recipe for “Sardine Spread”; as seen in her self-published newsletter, Secret Recipe Report (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; January 1981, p. 8). As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
The month of November observes… Banana Pudding Lovers Month, Inspirational Role Models Month, National Diabetes Month, National Fun with Fondue Month, National Native American Heritage Month, National Novel Writing Month, National Peanut Butter Lovers Month, National Pepper Month, National Pomegranate Month, National Raisin Bread Month, National Roasting Month, Spinach and Squash Month, Sweet Potato Awareness Month (also in February), Vegan Month, and more.
This week (for 2025) celebrates, among other things… National Game & Puzzle Week and Better Conversation Week, which is always the week of Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November).
Tomorrow is… National Play Day with Dad, National Parfait Day, and Shopping Reminder Day.
Wednesday, November 26th, is… National Cake Day. Plus, as the day before Thanksgiving (for 2025), it’s also… Tie One On Day and National Jukebox Day. Additionally (for 2025), it’s the start of… National Deal Week, which always begins the day before Thanksgiving.
Thursday, November 27th, is… National Bavarian Cream Pie Day and National Craft Jerky Day.
Friday, November 28th, is… National French Toast Day. Plus, as the day after Thanksgiving (for 2025), it’s also… National Day of Listening, National Native American Heritage Day, Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day, and Maize Day.
November 29th is… Electronic Greetings Day. Plus, as the Saturday after Thanksgiving (for 2025), it’s also… Small Business Saturday.
Sunday, November 30th, is… National Mason Jar Day, National Mousse Day, and National Mississippi Day.
Have a great week!
…47 down, 5 to go.
