Snowed in over Thanksgiving

This a November memory shared by a relative of mine. At the time of the memory, she lived in Long Island, New York. She remembers a Thanksgiving in the early 1950’s that made a strong impression on her.

“In the 1950s, I came down from New York on the train with my mother and father to visit my grandparents for Thanksgiving. We came by train and arrived in Newport‘s train station the day before Thanksgiving. It was very warm weather with mid-day temperatures in the 70s. The next day, we woke up to a snowstorm. It was a blizzard, with snow drifts and deep snow. The electricity was out and it was cold in the house, and I remember my aunt cooking in the fireplace. I think the turkey must’ve been cooked in the old wood-stove; it was an old-timey blue stove in the basement.

The basement was large with a large fire place, wood burning stove, and two large beds with feather mattresses. We all lived in that space the entire time the power was off. Electricity was off for quite a few days. I tried to sleep upstairs in the big room, but could not keep warm, so I hurried down to the basement to the feather beds, heavy comforters, and roaring fire to get warm. As a child, growing up in Long Island, I was used to seeing snow all the time and playing out in it with my leggings, boots, winter coat, hat, and gloves, but I didn’t expect to come down to Tennessee at Thanksgiving and have the same experience with no heavy winter clothes with me. I remember just seeing all this deep snow all the way around the whole place with ice.

At the same time, my dad had to telephone and tell everyone at his job in Long Island that he couldn’t get back because we had a snowstorm in Tennessee. They all laughed at him because they couldn’t believe that we were stuck down here in a blizzard. They believed it to be an excuse to stay longer! It seems so unreal now to think that we were snowed in over Thanksgiving in Tennessee!”

Source: K. P. Guessen