Memories and Moments by GrannyJo

I SMELL A MEMORY
Copyright 2003

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sixty-Five Long Years Ago

I Was A Little Princess
And This Was My "Six-Party"

PARTY FOR A PRINCESS

Somehow, my mother always made me feel I was the most important little girl in her world. She never went out of her way to spoil me, yet she never missed doing the loving “extras”. I can only hope that I have left the same feeling in my family that she left with me as I remember those early years.

Like any youngster, the prime day of the year for me was my birthday, which fell on April 2. No fool was I, but darn close!! Mom played right along with my feeling of being special and executed a big party for me every birthday for thirteen years. I’m sure there were family celebrations after that, but she produced the traditional ‘invitations/decorations’ type until I was in the seventh grade.

It came to pass that about two months before my sixth birthday, I went into the princess stage of my young life. I would dress up in one of Mom’s old dresses, put a small pie tin on my head for a crown and proceed to reign over all the dolls at my command. One morning in the middle of March, I woke up with the idea that I should have a gown for my upcoming ‘six-party’. I spent the day working over Mom and my aunt, Helen, trying to make them see that this was a great idea for a princess.

Finally Aunt Helen went up to her closet and took down a blue taffeta gown that she had worn in a wedding several years before. “I guess we could cut this down, don’t you think?” she asked my mother.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” I yelled, hopping madly around the both of them.

Mom laughed and threw her hands up in the air. Out came the sewing machine, scissors and pins, and soon the two of them had me standing on a table, all pinned up and wide-eyed, listening to them plan my Princess Party.

I’ll never forget it.

They sent out invitations with a silver crown decoration, which read:

“Your Attendance Is Requested At A Party
For
Princess Joanne
On The Occasion of Her Sixth Birthday
To Be Held
on
April 2, 1942
At
The Royal Castle on 1010 Main Street

A fever of activity (theirs) and expectation (mine) took over for the next two weeks. I was beside myself with anticipation!

On the big day, silver and blue streamers wove their way among what seemed like hundreds of balloons that decorated the rooms of the castle. I greeted my subjects in my lovely blue taffeta gown and ‘silver’ tiara (left over from New Years Eve), from my throne in the living room. It’s amazing what an armchair on an orange crate, all draped with a red quilt, can do for the regal bearing of a six-year-old!

We played London Bridge, Catch the Prince, and Pin the Crown on the Princess--by this time I had descended from the throne to join the masses--until we were all hungry and thirsty. Aunt Helen magically appeared in front of the sliding doors to the dining room and blew three long toots on a toy horn she held in her hand.

“The Royal Banquet is served!” she announced.

Those were the days when a parent or two brought their child to the party and stayed for the fun, therefore many were the “ooohs and ahhhs” when we were ushered into the Royal Banquet Room for refreshments.

That banquet table, Oh My! It wasn’t a bit ‘Italian’! Tiny triangle sandwiches on sliced “American” bread with special sandwich spread fillings; little circles of banana nut bread sandwiched a luscious cream cheese and pineapple spread; bowls of potato chips and pretzels; Royalty Gelatin Salad; and a sparkling bowl of Princess Party Punch surrounded a huge sheet cake that proclaimed

HAPPY SIXTH BIRTHDAY TO PRINCESS JOANNE!

When it came time to blow out the candles, I knew that I already had my wish--A Party For A Princess!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PARTY FOR A PRINCESS
MENU

BOLOGNA SPREAD TRIANGLES
PEANUT AND JELLY FINGERS
CREAMY BANANA NUTBREAD CIRCLES
POTATO CHIPS ```` PRETZEL STICKS
ROYALTY GELATIN SALAD
BLOW OUT THE CANDLES BIRTHDAY CAKE
PRINCESS PARTY PUNCH

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PARTY FOR A PRINCESS
RECIPES

Bologna Spread Triangles
(makes about 1 quart of spread)

½ LB. BOLOGNA - 3 STALKS CELERY - 1 C SWEET PICKLE RELISH
1 TSP PAPRIKA - 1 C MAYONNAISE

Run everything but the mayo through a fine food grinder twice -or- process in food processor until fine but not liquid. Cut Whole Bologna into pieces before use.

Put the fine mixture into a mixing bowl and add the mayo. Mix with a wooden spoon until all is a smooth, moist, spreading consistency.

Trim crusts from fresh bread (wheat and white are nice). Spread one slice of bread thickly with mix, top with another slice, and cut corner to corner into four small triangles. Cover and refrigerate up to three hours. You can use 2 slices white or wheat, or one slice of each per sandwich. A variety is pretty.

Peanut and Jelly Fingers

2 C Creamy or Crunchy Peanut Butter at room temperature ( or 1 cup of each)
½ C Grape Jelly -- ½ C Mint Jelly

Mix Grape Jelly into one cup of the Peanut Butter, and the Mint Jelly into the other cup, blending well.

Trim crusts from fresh bread (wheat and white are nice). Spread once slice of bread thickly with mix, top with another slice, and cut into three equal ‘fingers’.

You can use 2 slices white or wheat, or one slice of each per sandwich. A variety is pretty. Cover and refrigerate up to two hours.

Creamy Banana Nut Bread Circles

1 loaf of your own Banana Nut Bread (or 1 Cylinder can of commercial brand)

8 oz Whipped Cream Cheese -- 4 oz. Crushed Pineapple, drain well, reserve juice

2 T Mayonnaise -- 2 T Reserved Juice -- 4 drops Yellow Food Coloring

Cream together the Mayo, Pineapple Juice, and softened Cream Cheese, until well blended and creamy.

Mix in the drained Crushed Pineapple.

Add food coloring 1 drop at a time, until desired color. Mixture must be room temperature to be soft enough to spread easily on banana nut bread.

If using your own nut bread, cut thin slices and then use a whiskey glass or other small cutter to cut round circles.

When using cylindar can of bread, just remove the roll of bread from the can and slice thinly.

Spread one circle thickly with filling, top with another circle. Continue until all is used up. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Royal Gelatin Salad

This can be any gelatin salad or dessert that you prefer. It got its name from using Royal Gelatin. I believe it was a simple CHERRY GELATIN with SLICED BANANAS, PINEAPPLE CHUNKS and cut-up MARSHMALLOWS in it. (No mini marshmallows in those days.)

You need to drain the pineapple very well before adding it to the gelatin, but the juice can be measured to replace half of the cold water in the original box recipe, and ginger ale or lemon soda for the rest of the cold water in original recipe. Kool Whip makes a pretty topping for each serving.

Princess Party Punch

Several Large Envelopes of Cherry or Grape Kool-Aid

2 Quarts of Ginger Ale -- 1 Orange Sliced -- I Lemon Sliced

Ice Cubes -- Punch Bowl

Prepare the Kool-Aid according to instructions---Chill overnight.

Chill the unopened Ginger Ale overnight.

To Serve: Put the Chilled Kool-Aid into a punch bowl. Stir in the Chilled Ginger Ale. Add the Ice Cubes. Float the fruit slices on the top.

BLOW OUT THE CANDLES BIRTHDAY CAKE

Sheet Cake was ordered to allow for decoration. It was chocolate, of course!

ENJOY!!

With just a little bit of ingenuity, this can be turned into a delightful party for a little Prince---or has time changed all the sweet memories to be carried, as well as those destined to carry them? 8-)