The Holiday Memory Road

Now that we’re down one of the three big end-of-the-year holidays, we look forward to Christmas and finally the combo of New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day. Growing up in the 50th in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the holiday season was little different likely due to the large, varied ethnic population. Though we learned about the Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock, the story of Thanksgiving was as far removed during the holiday as stories of Daniel Boone and Lewis and Clark. Possibly because Japan was about a 1000 miles closer than Plymouth Rock and that the Native Americans I encountered regularly were the Kanaka Maoli or Native Hawaiians.

But the Tatsumoto’s did celebrate Thanksgiving – in fact, the large family party was held annually at the Tatsumoto house. And yes, the centerpiece of the meal was a large roasted turkey. Though it never was carved at the dining table like one of those Norman Rockwell paintings. Mom carved it prior to the arrival of the first guest and the slices were simply placed back in a roasting pan and kept warm in the oven. We also always had canned cranberry sauce – you knew it was authentic by the ridges on the side created by the can. Cousin Donna always brought her candied yams topped with melted marshmallows while Auntie Itamura always made her fried noodles and Auntie Corinne made her potato-macaroni salad with a separate, small container just for me as I disliked raw celery as a child. But the rest of the food was more Asian than American with sushi, sashimi, somen salad, teriyaki beef and shoyu chicken taking their usual place on the dining table.

Then some 37 years ago, I left the 50th to attend graduate school in The City where Thanksgiving took a distinct American turn. Roasted turkey breast, chestnut dressing, fresh cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie (usually from Real Foods) topped with freshly whipped cream. When I returned after 4 years, Mom threw one more family Thanksgiving celebration so I made the usual American fair for the family. To mixed reactions. Both Obaachan and her older sister, Auntie Itamura asked what the strange taste in the dressing was… “fresh rosemary and sage”… me “no likey”… Obaachan was also suspicious of my fresh cranberry sauce because it wasn’t gelled. I told Obaachan that the canned variety was simply jellied red fruit Spam – heck, it made the same noise exiting the can…

Santa Claus is Comin’

Again, Christmas wasn’t celebrated in the Tatsumoto household as you might see Stateside for several reasons. For starters, all of he Issei and most of the Nisei identified as Buddhist so Christmas had no religious significance. And unlike the continental US which experiences changing seasons (and snow), Hawaii is one constant summer. And though we always purchased a Christmas tree, the “cool” 80 - 90 degree ambient temperatures meant your tree was droppin’ pine needles at a logarithmic rate – so much so that during hot Decembers that Dad almost chucked the tree before Christmas arrived. Plus I was a very observant child and Mom once asked me if I believed in Santa Claus after returning from a store with a Santa event. I told her that I knew the guy dressed in the Santa costume was just another person as I could tell his beard was a prop as I saw the strap. And Santa at every store was a different person. Mom also tried to persuade me that Santa delivered our presents but I told her that we didn’t have a chimney and that Dad always made sure the doors were locked and bolted once it got dark. Auntie Uchimura always hosted the annual family Christmas party which was a tighter squeeze for 30 to 40 family members since Auntie didn’t have an enclosed patio like the Tatsumoto or Lee homes. But she did have air conditioning so I always planted myself just below the unit. And the dining table had the same assortment of food minus the turkey. But there never was any Yule Log or ribeye roast or other “traditional” Christmas fair. But like Thanksgiving, the Christmas party was an all-day affair starting at lunch and continuing through dinner.

Waitin' for the New Year

The Tatsumoto’s also hosted an annual New Year’s Eve Party but this party was mainly for Mom’s fellow teachers and Dad’s University of Hawaii football tailgate gang. And once I hit adulthood (18 years back then), most of my childhood “homies” stopped by the house to celebrate. There always were certain dishes on the table – ahi sashimi (something about the need to consume red fish during the New Year), Mom’s chicken hekka, Mr. Furuya’s freshly harvested Malaysian prawns sauteed in butter and garlic, Mrs. Takamiya’s konbu maki and Mrs. Oshiro’s sushi (it was always rolled with the filling perfectly centered). And though Mom always told my friends not to bring anything, she did have me tell Neal that he could bring his Mom’s andagi if he wanted to bring something… after all, Mrs. Shimabukuro moved to Hawaii directly from Okinawa.

Startin’ the New Year

The final family holiday was always held at the Lee household to celebrate the New Year though Auntie Corinne always felt shortchanged as the younger generation usually dragged their hungover carcasses into her house and didn’t touch the beer filled cooler until the early afternoon. The centerpiece of the dining table was a large red snapper – usually onaga though if weather conditions prevented local fisherman from securing their usual catch, menpachi or aweoweo was served as a substitute along with somen and the shoyu-based mentsuyu sauce. And Auntie Itamura always served her mochiko chicken and her fried noodles. However it took me years to enjoy her noodles as she tossed them with cilantro and I was a picky eater in my youth. No raw celery, cilantro, raw cabbage but now, I flavor my cilantro with food. Following the red fish theme, there were always platefuls of ahi sashimi but I don’t ever recall any poke on the dining table. And though it wasn’t a specialty of any one relative, someone always brought a large tray of nishime. However, my favorite event of the New Year’s party wasn’t the food, it was playing Bingo for a penny per card. And it wasn’t specifically the Bingo itself, it was getting a laugh from the two oldest Mural siblings, Auntie Itamura and Obaachan cussing when they were one number from winning but someone else yelled “Bingo”. Auntie with her “gunfunnit” and Obaachan with her “oh $hit”… Quieter Holidays Once the sansei started families of their own, the Murai clan grew too large for any one family to host a party for the whole clan so the family parties ended sometime in the 1990’s. The last of the seven Murai siblings also passed several years ago as well as some of the nisei and sansei family members so the holidays are quieter.

These days, we’ll simply order take-out and I’ll uncork a nice bottle of wine. We’ll still have turkey on Thanksgiving day even if it’s restaurant prepared but also enjoy our usual freshly made cranberry sauce, some nice cut of beef on Christmas and Champagne, sake and caviar on New Year’s Eve then start the New Year with ozoni, kuromame and sushi. And we’ll enjoy it as much as we did celebrating with family in our youth…