Four-alarm Cornucopia

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The Patterson Family

This week we’re sharing stories of Thanksgivings that did not go according to plan. Today, Nashvillians Tina and Jimmy Patterson recall a holiday meal that left an indelible mark—on the dining room ceiling.

Jimmy: It’s Thanksgiving Day, 2001.

Tina: And the day went off without a hitch! It was a great day.

Jimmy: Unbelievable Thanksgiving dinner. I mean, we’re talking a fried turkey. Cajun fried turkey. The women fix corn pudding,

Tina: …corn pudding, homemade cranberry jelly. Everybody eats. We had dinner, we celebrated, we drank lots of wine.

Jimmy: We’ve all undone a button.

Tina: And so we leave the dining room and head to the living room to watch football.

(“Drum Boogie” by Gene Krupa and His Orchestra)

Jimmy: My son Cameron is walking around, prowling, he’s looking for food. I mean, this kid eats all the time.

Tina: I see Cameron meander, mosey to the kitchen. Well, he’s 13. So I know he’s looking for more food.

(“Drum Boogie” by Gene Krupa and His Orchestra)

Tina: In my mind it’s in slow motion. He walks out of the dining room and he’s eating something.

Jimmy: Cameron’s walking out and he’s got a handful of something. And he’s eating.

Tina: So he’s popping things in his mouth, and he says, “Hey, Y’all! Did ya’ll know the table was on fire?”

(“Drum Boogie” by Gene Krupa and His Orchestra)

Jimmy: We all jump up. We run in there. And the candles ignited the cornucopia. This beautiful ornate thing. It’s got all of these little pumpkiny things—

Tina: Coming out of a horn of plenty, a beautiful cornucopia. And we were quite proud of it, and—

Jimmy: And there was at least three and a half, four feet of flames coming off—

Tina: Three to four foot flames shooting out of the middle of the table.

(“Straight, No Chaser” by Thelonious Monk)

Jimmy: This is the man part of the story. You know, “Everybody back up.” That’s what men are thinking. You know, “Hey, we got this!”

Tina: I do remember looking at one of the other ladies saying, “Where are the guys?” And we actually grabbed another tablecloth out of the buffet and threw it on top of the cornucopia, and Voila!

Jimmy: The men come back, beer and fire extinguishers in hand. But the women had already taken care of it. Nothing for us men to do. So what did we do? We went and watched football.

(“Straight, No Chaser)” by Thelonious Monk

Tina: I think that’s the point of Thanksgiving is that whatever happens it’s that memory of that day. And if we could be OK with the things that go wrong, maybe it would be a little more happy for people?

Goofing around on Christmas Eve 2006 (this was Cam’s last Christmas with us)

(“Body and Soul)” by Coleman Hawkins

Tina: Our son Cameron would be 23 now, and is no longer with us, passed away a few years ago.

(“Body and Soul” by Coleman Hawkins)

Tina: You know, we’ve learned to treasure all of our moments and our memories and to live in that moment, to be in that moment, whatever that moment brings. I don’t even know if I remember the perfect ones. They don’t count.

Jimmy: The perfect ones definitely do not count.

Us in 2010, without Cam.

“Body and Soul” by Coleman Hawkins

Host: That story told by Tina and Jimmy Patterson of Nashville. Tomorrow we’ll find out what hubris tastes like when it’s ladled into a Thanksgiving Day apple pie.

WPLN’s Kim Green recorded and produced this Thanksgiving Day remembrance.

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