Thanksgiving’s traditional celebrations for 2020 will surely be modified in most homes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep in mind how it was in the past and how you are looking forward to big turkey day in 2021.

To enlighten your 2020 Thanksgiving, here is a story of a Mathews County family that begins with a turkey even before Thanksgiving Day. Lou Ann Hudgins Diggs at age 16 was asked by her mother to prepare the frozen turkey they had just bought from the A&P store in Mathews.

“I took Mama to work and as I drove off I thought she said to take the turkey home and boil it. So I put it in a large pan and boiled it until noon. I called Mama to ask what to do next. When I told her what I had done, well, I can’t tell you everything she said except to ‘just throw it in the cornfield.’ When I took the top off the pot I instantly knew Mama was right. Knowing that turkey was a big deal at that time for my family, l took the bird to my aunt Erma Webb (Mama’s sister) asking if...