When I was young, it wasn't unusual for a huge group of family members to assemble for holiday dinners at my maternal Grandparents' home. It was a small house outside a rural village, and they'd moved from their tenant farm because my Granddad was into middle-age, and had given up farming for the less physically demanding job of night watchman.

It was there that various aunts, uncles and cousins would sometimes come together for holiday dinners, stuffing that little house as full as - OK, I'll say it - the turkey baking in the oven. The women would all be cooking and trying to stay out of each other's way in the crowded kitchen, the men would be playing cards or listening to the radio, and the kids would be getting into trouble — or trying to stay out of it.

I was always at a disadvantage in one very fundamental way — my girl cousins far outnumbered the boys, by a ratio of something like three to one. You don't have to be a math wizard to see how things added up when it came to getting attention. (Apparently it's in our family genes — my sister ended up having three daughters.)

Meanwhile, the food managed to get prepared — turkey of course, but chicken and noodles too, a couple of different kinds of potatoes and an endless variety of other side-dishes. Some of the women had gardens and canned during the growing season, so a number of jars of good stuff were popped open and prepared.

My Grandma's famous yeast rolls were by then filling the house with their distinctive aroma, even overcoming the roast turkey we'd been smelling all day. They came out of the oven golden brown, and she'd take a hunk of deep yellow country butter and slide it around the tops, making them glisten.