Thanksgiving Memories

“Let’s listen to some man-talk,” my mother-in-law said pointedly to this new bride who was away from her family for her first holiday.  Believe me, I had not been monopolizing the conversation.  There were few of us around the dining room table, only two men.  Her sons.  They were clearly all that mattered to her.  So, for the rest of the meal, her female guests ate silently, listening only to the ticking clock and the words issued by my golden-tongued husband and his brother.  And, as I’m sure you’ve discerned, this short discourse set the tone for this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship for the rest of her days.  Thank goodness not all of my Thanksgivings have had such a surly tenor.

When I was a young girl, I enjoyed two dinners each Thanksgiving.  We drove more than two hours to my parents’ hometown, Litchfield, and then ate at Grandmother Davis’ and Grandpa and Gram Bandy’s houses.  Later on, we had shorter drives to one of the houses of my mother’s siblings.  Sickness or weather would occasionally prevent us from hitting the road, and then we’d be especially thankful that my mother always had the assignment to bring the desserts and not the salads!  Once an old chicken my mother found buried in the freezer had to be our “turkey” for the day.  It was so tough that we finally just passed the carcass around between the three of us, and I declared that we were eating as the Eskimos did (according to some random fact I had read) as opposed to Pilgrims and Indians.

I don’t remember exactly when the extended family quit sharing the holidays, but, sometime after I was married, my husband and I became the hosts of the feast.  We were joined by my parents, my mother-in-law, stepchildren (and, eventually their families/significant others), and, perhaps, close friends.  My mother usually made us go around the circle and proclaim what we were thankful for.  This turned into a family love fest as each mentioned a spouse and/or children.  It was refreshing to read the local paper last week and see what others mentioned:
    - touchdowns and turkey
    - Legos, family, Oreos, ice cream, friends.  Football, baseball, swimming, Humor, school, personality, Thank-you God
    - Reading words like stop, country and my very favorite word is pepperoni pizza.
    - I’m truly blessed because I could change myself, I wouldn’t
    - I am thankful that my family loves me even though I am really naughty all the time, and I can’t help it.  P.S. Those burger patties were THE BOMB!
        -Tango the dog
and, two of my favorite:
    - I’m thankful for the pencil I can pick up to make ideas into art.
    - The incredible pages of books that are long, many words, make my mind explode!

This Thanksgiving we enjoyed a delicious buffet at a favorite restaurant on the lake.  My husband downed at least one dozen oysters on the half-shell, and I tried to match him with desserts.  We had a three generation family sit near us.  The six children, all grade school aged, entered first and declared one-half of the long table the “kid’s table,” and then were followed by their grandparents and parents.  After most had finished eating and were beginning to head to the dessert table, we were given our chuckle for the day.  The most sanguine of the children, a boy probably an eight-year-old, stood beside his chair with one knee on it and said, “Wow, this is really the way to go,” followed a minute later by, “Just look at that view.”  Truthfully, he couldn’t have said it better.