I know, by the time you read this the actual day will already be over.
Not for us. For years we have celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday, mostly because of deadlines and putting the paper together. It always seemed easier to wait for the weekend.
I don’t have those deadlines anymore, except for putting the paper together, which I still help to do.
We always held our big holiday dinner on Saturday because that is the day the family, most of them anyway, can get together for the annual turkey dinner with all the trimmings. For years, work for both daughter Lisa and daughter-in-law Micki prevented our celebrating on Thanksgiving, so we always celebrated the big day on Saturday, a tradition that continues today simply because it is more convenient for everyone. Lisa and Terry are hosting the Thayer family dinner this year – on Saturday, but because we won’t be able to attend, we are having dinner out with the two families that live nearby on Thanksgiving this year. (that means the Thayers can have turkey twice this year! – Whoo-hoo!)
Jack is still planning to make a couple of his famous pumpkin pies and we will be taking them when we visit some of the family over the weekend.
This has been a really special holiday in our family for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I remember lots of family, good conversations, lots of food and washing dishes for hours afterwards – it was always a huge chore, but worth it.
When we took over from my Mom and began hosting the annual event, the kitchen was where we all gathered for most of the day. The kids all chipped in to grind up the goodies for stuffing. They fought over that chore and also helped me mix up the ingredients for pies and desserts. The grandkids are all grown up now and the families are spread across the country. Wish we could all be together once again.
Thanksgiving is all about family – and food! You know I read somewhere once that the average number of calories consumed per person on that one day of the year is over 3,000. Wow! I will have to skip meals for at least two days after that.
And we always had a ton of leftovers. It was fun looking for recipes to use up all of that leftover turkey…
It is easy to believe because when we hosted, I always manage to cook way too much stuff. We would stick to the traditional fare: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, yams, a vegetable, rolls and a couple different things for dessert.
There’s also entertainment. One year Lisa taught the little girls how to spray whipped cream right into the mouth…now another family tradition.
We always had lots of help with the preparation and both Micki and Lisa would bring their specialities to our place out on the river.
I miss those days.
In between all of the festivities somewhere, we always managed to find time to be a little “thankful” for all of the good things we have always been blessed with.
Thanks to all of you customers and faithful readers, the paper, now under new ownership, is still going and growing. I’m thankful I still get to help out with the business that was a big part of my life for so many years.
Thanks to God, and despite the hard economic times we are all going through now, we are lucky enough to live in the best country in the world and in a part of that country where old-fashioned values are still in style.
We can be especially thankful we live in a place where we feel free enough to do that! Most of that freedom we can attribute to the efforts of our service men and women, many of whom won’t be here to share the feast this year. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
No matter how or when you celebrated, whether you do it at home, or go out for the big dinner, it really is a great holiday. Maybe it is one of the very best because there’s no stress, no wrapping and no deadlines to meet. Just good times with the ones you love.
Makes this holiday a pretty special one, doesn’t it?