Sunday, December 31, 2017

NEW YEAR'S EVE



 


Grandma Ina seemed offhand about Thanksgiving, but she appears to have enjoyed celebrating the New Year. As she was writing to her son Vance (my father), she often said, “My first of the New Year shall be to you,” or some such phrase. As 1932 turned to ’33, she described greeting the New Year from the east coast to the west through the radio. “They began at 9:00 at New York City,” she wrote, “when pandemonium broke loose on Broadway till we could hardly hear the chimes from the great Trinity Church. Chicago ushered it in on Central Standard Time. We bathed while the New Year was crossing the Great Plains and getting into the mountains to be heralded at Denver. I curled up on the couch and took a nap while 1933 was crossing the mountain chains and reaching the city which sits by the Golden Gate. There again was great sound and we could hear the steamers bellowing and such a confusion of sounds [so that] we could hardly hear the bell tolling out the midnight hour.”

Traditionally, Ina's sister Bertha prepared a big meal on New Year’s Day, as this one in 1934, which Ina described: “We were at Aunt’s for New Year’s Day. And oh! The lavish dinner! Oyster soup – very good, fried chicken, gravy, potatoes, corn on the cob, cabbage salad, Jell-O fruit salad, fruit cake with thick icing, mince pie, pumpkin pie, apricot Jell-O pie, etc., etc., etc. – and then Aunt said, ‘Why Ruth! We didn’t put any citron preserves on the table.’ Also, popcorn balls, nuts, candy, and gum.”

Of that same year, 1933 to ’34, Aunt Shirley wrote: “New Year’s Eve the Harold Powells asked Henry, Myrtle and myself over for the evening and we had a most enjoyable time listening to their good radio and playing anagrams. They really are delightful people. We didn’t come home till after 2 a.m. so we were somewhat sleepy at Aunt’s the next day. She had the usual big dinner which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.”

In 1938, the New Year’s Day dinner at Aunt Bertha’s was less lavish. Ina wrote: “We were at June’s today for dinner and had a good one, but Aunt had said it was not to be much so all we had was oyster soup (“Willapas,” by the way), roast back bone of pork, a platter of sausage, potatoes roasted with the meat, lettuce salad, pickles, chow chow, not more than four kinds of jelly and preserves, only one kind of pie (pumpkin), and only one kind of cake (fruitcake). Of course, you know there was tea, coffee, milk, grape juice, bread, butter, crackers. This is all I can remember. The nuts and candy were on top, too. We came home in good season to avoid the dark.”
 


I’m sure Mike and I will celebrate by being sound asleep by 10:00. That’s what we usually do. KW

4 comments:

Hallie said...

We took a couple of games to our friends' apartment on Queen Anne Hill. They have a view of the Space Needle from their patio, so at midnight we watched the fireworks at the Needle. I've never actually watched the New Year's fireworks in Seattle.

For dinner we had various appetizer things: hummus, cheeses and crackers, sausage, an interesting chik pea salad and at midnight we had lentils. Apparently in Italy it's good luck to eat lentils just after midnight.

Kathy said...

I can see it now: ancient Italian farmers promoted eating lentils after midnight as good luck. Why didn't we think of that? I wish Harriet were here to discuss this.

We had various noisy fireworks here in the neighborhood. Didn't bother me. I slept right through it.

Chris said...

I think that second meal had plenty of food. Amazing how much they put on the table in those days. No more than four jams and jellies? I put out one. It all sounds delicious.

Kathy said...

Hi Chris! I agree. I know people are overweight today, but just the same,I don't think we serve the rich food as we once did. I know Bertha was overweight and really overdid the food, but I don't think they ate that way all the time -- they couldn't afford to. It was probably all the more important to splurge when the occasion arose. Nevertheless, the family made fun of Aunt Bertha's "over-the-top" meals. No question but that she was a good cook, though.

Grandma Ina struggled with health issues and by the '30s, she was watching her diet.