My family home had a fruit cellar, as we called it, is that what you mean by a "cold room"? It would have been built maybe late 50s or around 1960, I think. They were already in the house when I was born in the mid-60s and weren't the first owner.
We had an oil burner until the late eighties when Mom and Dad switched to natural gas. The tank and furnace were at one end of the main part of the basement, which Dad then walled off. Nothing fancy, just a simple wooden partition. We had shelves mounted on the partition to store toys, games, etc. The furnace had a large flat space where we put mittens and socks to dry after being out in the winter. It was also a favourite sleeping spot for the cat.
Cold roomYes, root cellar, fruit cellar, cold room.
Per wiki:
Is it root cellar or fruit cellar?
A root cellar (American English), fruit cellar (Mid-Western American English) or earth cellar (British English) is a structure, usually underground or partially underground, used for storage of vegetables, fruits, nuts, or other foods.
Also:
What is a Cold Room?
Cold Rooms, also referred to as Catinas or Root Cellars, are a room, located in the basement or under the front porch, that as the name suggests, has a lower temperature than the rest of the house. These rooms are typically used to store wine, potatoes, flower bulbs, and other items that need a cold, damp space to thrive. This is not only a good space to house these items, but it is much cheaper than running a fridge!
The townhouse we owned for a while in the 90s was like that. The front part was just a crawlspace under the dining/livingroom, then under the kitchen was an unfinished room with a dirt floor that acted as a utility room; furnace, hydro panel, that sort of stuff. Too dingy and full of spiders and bugs to be much use for anything involving staying there. I only went down if I needed to replace a fuse or something. I think we did store a few things down there.
that sounds like a FUN townhouse
I always wonder why thanksgiving is so late in the US. Don’t they have harvested everything already last month?
Re date: well they do have a longer growing season, so later makes sense.
It is to the extent that for a lot of American families Thanksgiving is their big family gathering. Extended families getting together for a big dinner type stuff. I know a lot of the Americans on my writing sites are talking about getting together with children and grandchildren and such. But as Jayne says, gifts are still Christmas, though a lot of Christmas gifts may get bought tomorrow, so-called Black Friday.
My family largely did Christmas that way for the last few years we were gathering annually. In recent years, though, we haven't even gathered at Christmas much. The last extended family gathering was a summer BBQ. At this point, there's a non-zero chance our own immediate family gatherings will be for Eid al Fitr or something (the traditional holiday at the end of Ramadan when Muslim families tend to do their big get-togethers).