At age 95, using recipes he learned from his Italian mother, Carmine "Charlie" Mazzulli started preparing this year's Thanksgiving dinner a week ago in Hingham (MA). The Korean War veteran and Army cook knows the drill. First came the pickled beets. Over the weekend, the rapini, or broccoli rabe, and Italian vinegar peppers. Then his mother's celery salad – a Thanksgiving and Christmas special – with anchovies, garlic and pitted black olives.

In the past, Charlie made Thanksgiving dinner for 35 people. Now, the family is spread out, and Thursday, it will just be dinner for four, with cousin Don Cirone and his wife, Maew, from Rockland. The Cirones will bring the spiral ham. "I can remember the celery salad going way back to when I was a kid," Charlie's son, Bob Mazzulli, 53, said. For Bob, each day is a time of thanksgiving and his Pop is at the top.