Feeding the Masses

Last night our family group of twenty-four went to a local restaurant for dinner. Great business for the local restaurant, but the logistics must have been a nightmare; how to seat twenty-four people in a small establishment while still accommodating the regular dinner crowd. They pulled it off. The owner is a friend of the family (I think my grandmother was his second grade teacher) who went to great lengths to make sure our party was well served.

Tonight we will seat thirty-five for dinner in my grandmother’s pine-paneled den. The logistics for this dinner will also be difficult to pull off. Tables and chairs will be delivered and set up, furniture will be moved, and the den will be readied to hold our large clan so we can break bread together as we celebrate our matriarch’s 103rd birthday.

All of the preparations for gathering a large family for a meal make me wonder how my grandmother did it on a regular basis. With ten children, there were sure to be at least twelve at the table for every meal. And that was if there were no friends, other relatives, boyfriends/girlfriends, future or current spouses. How did my grandmother do it? Remember, this was in the days before fast-food take-out or pizza delivery. Remember also, my grandmother worked outside of the home teaching a classroom of schoolchildren every day.

One way she managed to pull off feeding the masses gathered at her table was with a lot of help from the children. The older kids each had a meal a week they were responsible for preparing. My aunts and uncles can recite who prepared what dish, as they each had one signature entrée they prepared every week. Aunt Sandra learned to make Eggs ala Goldenrod in Home Ec. Class and “treated” the family to this hard-boiled egg concoction on her nights to cook. My grandmother still shudders when she recalls Sandra’s specialty.

In addition to helping with the cooking all of the kids pitched in with the clean-up, each assigned a week for dishwashing duty. Aunt Karen was notorious for stacking the dirty dishes in the cabinet under the kitchen sink until the supply of clean plates was exhausted, at which time she had a week’s worth of dishes to clean. Meals, dishes, taking out the trash and cleaning the kitchen (and the rest of the house) were duties shared by the family. Aunt Gail was known for “cleaning” the house by using every drawer, closet and cabinet to hide the clutter. The house would look clean for about an hour, but no one could find a thing. My grandmother was a great believer in the adage, “Many hands make light the work.” She also believed strongly in, “Spare the rod and spoil the child,” but that is a topic for another blog.

This evening’s dinner for thirty-five of my closest kin will be no exception to our family’s tradition of sharing the work. We will pitch in and get it all done. I just hope Aunt Karen doesn’t try to hide the dirty dishes!