Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill.
It’s October. That means it’s Homecoming time at church and all the women in the church try to outdo one another with what they bring for the potluck dinner on the grounds.
What’s that? You’ve never been to a dinner on the grounds at a country church like ours? Then, let me tell you, you’ve missed out. The church ladies cook enough for three congregations. But that’s all right. That means plenty for everybody and their brother. And sister too.
Thank goodness, or as Miss Sally would say thank the Lord, we had great weather last Sunday. I guess the prayer warriors go to work for Homecoming weather. I don’t think I ever remember it raining on Homecoming Day. Ever. Sometimes it’s hot, but we can handle the heat even if it does make the icing on the cakes extra sticky and the jello salads melt a little. This year the weather was perfect. Mr. Moore and Mr. Hardy pulled wagons right up into the middle of the churchyard. We put the food on one of them and folks stood around the other one and ate. Some folks sat down under the tent the funeral home brought out and sat up for us. Good think we have a big churchyard. But I liked it better standing around the wagon with the other kids. That way you have some place to set your drink. We had real lemonade with lemons and ice tea so sweet it’s a wonder it didn’t cause a sugar shortage.
If the tea didn’t, the dessert table might. They carried out a special table from the Sunday school rooms to hold the desserts. The ladies didn’t want them mixed in with the regular food on the wagon. Why, I don’t know, but you don’t get in the way of how the church ladies want to do things at a Homecoming dinner.
I skipped all the vegetables, especially the cabbage (yuck), since nobody was paying any attention to my plate. I got some of Miss Sally’s fried chicken and skipped right to the salads. I worried I would miss out on the banana croquettes since Dad said I had to wait and go almost last through the line. A preacher’s daughter has to mind her manners and let those older go first. Sigh. And when I got down to the salads, I found nothing but a few peanuts in the bottom of that banana croquette bowl. I might have cried except Miss Sally, who doesn’t worry about eating so much as taking care of everybody else, saved the day for me. She’d put aside some for me. I could have hugged her on the spot, but I didn’t. She whispered that we needed to be sneaky about it so that nobody would notice and want me to share the three banana pieces slathered with peanuts she’d saved for me. I wasn’t about to share. I’ll practice generosity another day!
After I ate my chicken, banana croquettes and strawberry jello with real strawberries in it, I was ready to hit the dessert table. I did manage to slip in front of some of the older folks then. They eat slower than I do or maybe they take longer eating all those vegetables. Anyway, I got a piece of Miss Jeralene’s angel food cake and a piece of somebody’s cherry pie. Not sure who made it, but they did a bang up job.
Dad has a hard time at church dinners. All the ladies want him to eat what they bring. They tell him they made this or that dessert just for him since they know it’s his favorite. And he maybe has said it was a favorite when we were at their houses eating dinner. But there are just so many pieces of pies and cakes one man can eat. Especially after he’s already had to eat all the casseroles brought because those were favorites too. I’m thinking Dad is going to have to quit bragging so much on the cooking of every woman in church. But he always gives it a valiant effort to taste the favorite dishes of every cook there. He goes home groaning but he says it’s a preacher’s duty to do his best to make his members feel appreciated.
I, for one, appreciate Miss Sally and her banana croquettes. If you haven’t ever been to a country church dinner, you might not have ever had the pleasure of eating those bananas with salad dressing smeared on them and then rolled in peanuts. No country church dinner is complete without them and I have Miss Sally to thank that my plate was complete with them.
So what’s your favorite dish to eat at a country church homecoming? And have you ever taken a dish to a potluck dinner because you knew it was a favorite of somebody there? Maybe next dinner I’ll talk Aunt Love into letting me make some of those banana croquettes so we’ll have two bowls of them on the food wagon – Miss Sally’s and mine.