Happy Thanksgiving!

Never the Same Again

I realized this year that Thanksgiving will never be the same again.  As a tradition in my family we would wake to a roasting turkey filling the house so full of mouthwatering aromas.  We would wake early and watch Mom and Dad preparing all of the yummy goodies.  Someone would be putting the casserole together with rice and broccoli and cheese.  Oh, so much cheese.  The yams cut up and mashed with the marshmallows tightly packed above the orange vegetables.  The stuffing made in a very large pan, not too gooey and never too dry, with plenty of leftovers.  Dad would be tasting everything as he thought it was ready, but mainly to decide on adding more spices.  When he started cutting and eating the turkey, we knew it was almost time to eat.  The gravy would be put together and stirred with meticulous detail to thickness and taste.  My picky sister liked the gravy the best and liked giblet gravy to be made with certain perfection, but to never know what ingredients were actually used in its preparation.  I would sneak a peek at the perfect looking pies that were labored over only the day before by Mom’s traditional recipes.  Pumpkin pie, with whipped cream, of course…pecan pie, preferred by few…and the time-honored peanut butter pie, two for especially Mom and me. 

While Mom and Dad prepare the food to go in the oven in the particular order of how everything will be done at precisely the right time to eat, I watch in amazement.  It seems as if this time coordination is an art perfected to the precise time things will get done by rotating many dishes through the one oven baking them all until all are done and all are not too cold and not too hot.  Everything is just right.

I remember watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade on T.V.  Every year there would be the same floats but different pop stars and popular entertainers there.  I enjoyed all of the performances by the bands and dancers when they stopped in the middle of the street where on the cement is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade emblem permanently embossed for all to see.  I would see all of the people lined along the parade route, with their big coats and mittens and rosy cheeks and smiles.  Most kids would want to be there to see the parade in person, but even from a young age I knew I had the best seat in the house and I didn’t have to freeze to experience the parade.  When Santa Claus came down the street, I just knew it was almost time to eat.

Then I would start thinking about Christmas and how I had not thought about what I wanted.  So I would dive into the bright colorful ads and try to remember what necessities I needed.  I was always a child that knew parents weren’t made of money, so I tried not to ask for things unless I absolutely needed it. Besides that, if I absolutely needed something, I would ask for it for Christmas. Santa usually only got us a big present and all of the things I really wanted came from Mom and Dad.  All of us girls would go through the ads and color a Christmas list.  Our Christmas lists would take a major part of the time to make look pretty, with extraordinary pictures and colors. We would give them to mom, as she promised to send them to Santa right away.

When we sat down to eat Dad would usually bless the food thanking “The good Lord” for what He had provided. And then we feasted. The food was the best part of the day, in my opinion, as a kid. Any Thanksgiving feasts that I have experienced since have been well below par. We would eat as much as we could and then could always find room for desert before Dad would lay down on the couch to “watch” a football game. My middle sister would normally go to another TV and find a sweet little TV movie we could watch and fall asleep to if so felt. Mom and my older sister would go to sleep.

Just about dinner time everyone would wake up and someone would pull out the leftovers and start heating up their favorite food on their own plate. We would all eat and watch whatever was on TV, either the end of a football game or a Christmas movie that they would start on TV to start the Christmas spirit. Soon we would be ready to go to bed and sleep once again after another fulfilling Thanksgiving day.

What I remember the most is the togetherness I experienced with my family on this holiday and the ease of understanding what it is really all about.