Christmas Turkey

One of the neatest things about our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations was the roasting of the turkey.  Most years we managed to afford a turkey which was a great thing since we enjoyed such a unique way of cooking it.  We owned a stainless steel rotisserie, a gift to my Dad from Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd).  Dad did Hoppy’s stunts during the filming of the Hopalong Cassidy films.  I never recall my Mother cooking our turkey in anything but that rotisserie, and it was from watching her that I discovered the secret to a great turkey: soy sauce.  There was one problem with the rotisserie though: it invariably blew out the electrical circuit.  Probably the first time it happened it was a surprise and I can just imagine my Dad frantically looking for a spare circuit breaker on Thanksgiving.  But for as long as I can remember, my Dad always kept spares because there was no doubt that the fuse would sooner or later blow while the turkey was cooking.  I inherited the rotisserie and for my first couple of Thanksgiving’s in our Covina home, we cooked our turkeys in it.  And just like when I was growing up, it would invariably blow our fuse as well and Skip came to be prepared with spares.  Like my Mom, my secret basting ingredient was soy sauce which I still employ to this day.  Sadly, when the rotisserie’s cooking rod broke and a replacement couldn’t be found, we finally had to let Hoppy’s rotisserie go.  I was heartbroken and not sure how I would handle the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner until your Dad suggested barbecuing it.  So, Girls, your Dad was actually the instigator of our family tradition of barbecuing the turkey for Thanksgiving.  After a shaky start (our first turkey took some six hours to cook) we were off  with another family tradition.

I don't have any pictures of the rotisserie being used in our Camellia Ave. home while I was growing up but here's one of you, Michaela, at the age of three in 1978 looking with anticipation at our Christmas dinner.  Years later, you are a vegetarian as is your sister Heather and her daughter Cadence.  I am proud of all of you and thanks to your influence, I am very near a vegetarian myself.

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