Thanksgiving Thoughts

Today is Thanksgiving in the good old US of A. It is a very special holiday here, not quite as special as Christmas, but almost. Schools are out for the entire week (yay for teachers and students). Families are getting together, excited about being together and having lots of delicious food with the usual turkey or ham or both, casseroles and the all-important pie—pumpkin, apple, pecan, cherry. Tables have been set with china, crystal and sterling silver, or perhaps paper plates, plastic utensils, and paper napkins. It’s an exciting time for many, and for some it is a sad or stressful time. Whether you are celebrating with family, friends, or by yourself, it is a good time to count your blessings, because if you live in the USA, you have much for which to be grateful. Just ask my Ethiopian friend, Kebret, but more on him in a later blog post.
I was thinking today about past Thanksgivings at my childhood home in Temple, Texas. Mom would be cooking for several days before the big day. The house would be filled with all the smells—turkey, dressing, sides and pie. She usually made a lemon meringue pie for Dad as it was his favorite. Because we invited extended family, all the tables would be set, including the folding tables Mom kept for bridge groups. Beautiful family heirloom tablecloths would cover the tables. Mom’s white Wedgewood china would be carefully laid out on the tables, along with her crystal and King Edward silver. She had a green thumb and grew gorgeous flowers in our yard, so there were always flowers arranged in vases on the tables. Dad’s job, besides doing the various small requests she made throughout the day, was to drive around Temple and pick up the elderly relatives…Mae Moore, my grandfather’s cousin, who was a retired school teacher and what we called an old maid as she had never married, Joe and Francis Lipscomb, parents of my godmother and also blood kin, and my grandmother, Elizabeth. They would all arrive in their Sunday best and as I recall, with no food. And of course we kids were expected to help, then be dressed for the occasion and on our best behavior.
It was a wonderful time for all. Stories were told about days gone by as massive quantities of food were consumed. Later the men would retire which seemed to be the custom as Mom and the other women did the cleaning up, putting away of food, etc., with help from little old me. It was a long and tiring day for my mother, but she so enjoyed cooking and entertaining. It must not have seemed like work to her. We all looked forward to those special times when family got together—everything had a glow about it.
Flash forward to today. My family is small. Erin will celebrate Thanksgiving with her inlaws in San Antonio. As we have for a while, we will travel to Kingwood for the day and have Thanksgiving dinner with my brother, Clayton, and his wife’s family. There will many folks there—from old to young. Everyone is expected to bring something and it is always delicious. My brother will be in the midst of the preparations helping. And everyone will help with the cleanup. We might even eat on paper plates since that makes cleanup so much easier. No one will be wearing Sunday clothes. Kids will be running and playing and shouting. As always, there will be desserts galore—over the top! And everyone will have a good time. We will sit by the firepit outside, or go up to Clayton’s mancave and watch football, or hang out in the living room or dining room and chat and catch up.
All this to say that today I will be sitting and thinking and remembering…and counting my blessings as I look around. Today I can get out of bed and am painfree (still with the help of a little Tramadol). I can leave the house. I can exercise. I no longer suffer from anxiety or depression. I can go places other than the bathroom. I can travel internationally. I can eat almost anything rather than having a severely restricted diet. I have a husband who loves me and cares about me. I have a much-prayed for daughter who has grown up to be a wonderful young woman, a great son-in-law and a precious step grandson. I have Wendie, the daughter of my heart, and her sweet family—Carter, my little boyfriend and now Kenzie, his cutie pie sister. I don’t have the grandkids that I prayed for, but I am so grateful for those three “loaned” grandkids. I am so grateful for my family, especially my brothers and their families, and my exhusband’s family, who have continued to love me. I miss seeing them as much as I used to do. I am so grateful for all the years I spent as a teacher, the memories made, and the continued interactions with students which bless my life often. Then there are my friends, and most especially the Buds for Life. They always have my back, and always will. My childhood friends, Peggy, Lisa and Honey Carroll. All of my high school buds are still my buds, even though a few have left us. My friend, Denise…she has been my friend and prayer partner since I was 30. And I can’t leave out the wonderful childhood I had growing up in the little town of Temple, Texas, surrounded by friends, family, loved ones, where people cared, looked after one another, and celebrated Thanksgiving with loved ones every year.
I hope wherever you are today, you will stop for a few moments and think about the good things in your life, past and present. I know there are more than you think there are. Say a little prayer of thanksgiving for all the good stuff. When we learn to count our blessings, to be grateful, one by one like the song says, we become happier people. And who wouldn’t want that? Happy Thanksgiving!