Talking Turkey at a Feast the Whole Family Flocks To

Maybe you plan your Thanksgiving holiday a day or two in advance. Not Jane and Lawrence Luppi of Laguna Niguel. They started weeks ago.

But then, the Luppis will be entertaining 40 people at their spacious home today. Thanksgiving isn’t just a grand holiday for the Luppis and their seven children. It’s the holiday.

They kill some of their own food, dress up in Pilgrim costumes, and decorate their table much as you might have expected at the original feast in Massachusetts.

“There’s lots of noise, but it’s a good noise--a happy noise,” said Lawrence Luppi, a doctor of internal medicine.

Singing and storytelling are traditional. The children create the table centerpieces. At dinner time, they exchange notes on keepsake place mats, much the way students sign each other’s yearbooks. And on all the place cards, John Kelly, Jane’s father, writes a prediction for each person’s future. The Irish Oracle, the family calls him.

John Kelly was born with a caul, a membrane that covers a newborn in rare cases. By Irish tradition--or perhaps superstition--caul people are supposed to have mystical powers. The Luppis consider it only good fun but do marvel at how often Grandpa Kelly’s predictions have come true.

The capper after dinner is the speeches on why they are so thankful. Not just a few, but from everyone at the meal--the Luppis, the cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors. This is for the annual “Turkey Award.” Small trophies with a turkey on top are given to the winners in three categories: children, men and women. Voting is by secret ballot and only Grandpa Kelly ever knows who got how many votes (and who maybe didn’t get any.)

Making Thanksgiving huge was a part of Jane Luppi’s childhood. She was one of 12 children.

“Christmas is always so rushed,” she explained to me. “Thanksgiving is still a religious holiday. It’s a time for family to be thankful for all God’s blessings.”

It was great fun for me listening to the Luppis and their children (I got to meet six of them) talk about Thanksgivings past. There was the time that Larry Luppi, the older of the two boys, won the speaking trophy when he was just 3. He sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and then announced he loved everyone in the room.

But Larry, now 13, told me modestly that he had an edge that particular year. His oldest sister, Elizabeth, now 14, had given her speech just before him. Instead of talking about what she had to be thankful for, she recited her list of Christmas present requests. Larry figures he had great timing following that.

Their father, Lawrence, also won the Turkey Award once, he told me proudly. In this family, I could see that it was an honor you just can’t top.

The Luppis won’t have just turkey today. They will also serve up two dozen pheasants. Lawrence Luppi is an avid hunter. Each year before Thanksgiving, he heads to western Kansas to shoot part of their game for the big meal, then freezes it for the plane ride home. The pheasant is for the hors d’oeuvres, they said.

At my house, we have a beautiful Thanksgiving Day planned. But as I left the Luppis, I thought about asking my wife whether we shouldn’t add pheasant hors d’ouevres to our traditions.

First Dance: I’ve mentioned the old Rendezvous Ballroom near the Newport Beach Pier (and its predecessor) in a couple of columns now and hadn’t planned to bring it up again. Except I was so touched by a letter I received from Joe McGuigan of Monarch Beach, I wanted to share some of it with you. He writes:

“The girl I married and I had our very first date at the Rendezvous Ballroom during Easter Week of 1931. The featured band was the English Gibson outfit. The song (our song) that was tops that night was ‘Out of Nowhere.’ We danced there many times.”

Joe and Margaret McGuigan were married for 61 years. She died last year. Joe McGuigan, now 85, says he recently wanted to return to the site of their early romance but couldn’t find it. As soon as I can track him down, it’s going to be my pleasure to take him there.

Cruising Ahead: I usually don’t write about Christmas before we’ve enjoyed Thanksgiving turkey. But, if you want to take a boat ride on the 35th annual Huntington Harbour “Cruise of Lights” tour next month--and on your own schedule--now might be the time to get reservations. Some of the boats fill up fast immediately after Thanksgiving.

The tour is an annual fund-raiser for the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, which funds dozens of children’s music programs. It will hold four cruises nightly Dec. 15-23. Homes along the narrated tour are lavishly decorated for Christmas. Tickets range from $8 to $10 for adults and $5 for children. You can call (714) 840-7542 for reservations.

Wrap-Up: The Luppis told me a great story about their marriage. The Catholic priest who married them was a friend and knew they both wanted a large family. So he slipped into the wedding ceremony, “And may you be blessed with a child every year.”

They laughed as they told me, because that’s pretty much what happened. They had their seven children in eight years’ time.

Jane Luppi said she wants to instill in those seven children a love of Thanksgiving: “It represents real traditional American values.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail to [email protected]