Thanksgiving ‘07
Turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, coffee, pie…
and yet, it isn’t about the food. It’s about family, tradition, the same dishes, silverware, glasses, table, and chairs. Great grandma’s dishes and silver comes out of the antique hutch that belonged to my grandmother.
My stepdad will have to run to the store for last minute items and he’ll be gone for two hours instead of the 20 minutes it should take. He’ll come back and my mom will give him the “look.” He’ll feign innocence and claim that the celery she needed was very, very hard to find.
We’ll laugh and tease as the dressing is drizzled on the salad and the sugared pecans sprinkled on top. The last dish will make it to the table as Kate runs around filling glasses and keeping Maggie away from the table.
Then we’ll sit down, hold hands and pray, and begin passing dishes around the table. We’ll laugh as someone gets passed the potatoes or cranberry sauce twice because, inevitably, someone will pass counter-clockwise instead of clockwise and will totally screw up the rotation. And, for the next hour or so we’ll be together as a family around one table and for that hour it will be as if the world has stopped turning and nothing else exists or matters.
The same, but a year older, wiser, and with new experiences behind us since the last Thanksgiving.
Hours later we’ll be picking around the kitchen at the leftovers, sipping wine or coffee, maybe even indulging in that second (or third) piece of pie.
And, late that night we’ll make the less than 5 minute drive home. Sometimes the fog rolls in, sometimes the sky is crisp and cold with clear bright pinpoints of stars. It’s at that point you realize that whether it is conscious or subconscious, you are grateful, truly, truly thankful for all the blessings, love and friendship. Thankful for a day when everyone has to stop and just be a family.
And, this year, I have more to be thankful for. For the first time in nearly three years, my sister will once again join us for Thanksgiving and I’ll get to feel like I’m 10 again.
Happy Thanksgiving and much love from my family to yours.
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
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And, completely off topic but incredibly important, I’d love it if you would do me the favor of visiting a dear friend’s blog and reading his current post. Avitable rarely blogs seriously but when he does it is ALWAYS for a good reason.
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November 21st, 2007
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I’m so so sorry!!!! 
