Today here in the United States it's Thanksgiving Day. In addition to the general thankfulness I've been trying to articulate in this project, Thanksgiving DAY has the following special significance attached to it: a day off from regular work, great food, usually cold, crisp weather, football, AND family gatherings. While I enjoy everything about Thanksgiving Day, it is the family gathering, some from several hours distant, that has come to mean the most to me.
Thanksgiving has always been about family gathering for me. Other holidays feature family gathering as well, but even Christmas family gatherings might be postponed and scheduled for a more convenient date. But Thanksgiving never gets postponed: it's Thanksgiving Day or bust (or maybe, Thanksgiving Day AND bust!)
Earliest memories of Thanksgiving play across the High Def screen that is my memory. I'm in the car (probably in the "way back" of the family station wagon) on the way to Grandma Ashley's (funny...it was always "Grandma's", as opposed to "Grandpa's" or "Grandma and Grandpa's"). We're going to Thanksgiving dinner. Uncle Willard and Aunt Millie will be there, along with cousins Blizzie, Sharon, Milt, Mark, and Becky. I'm at the kid's table, again. We're enjoying cranberry ice made in the old aluminum ice cube trays without the separate ice cube shaper/separator. Too little cranberry ice in my dish; I've got to con little sisters Debbie and Dale out of theirs. Big mistake there--I'm still paying for that after all these years!
These days, the participants at our family gatherings have changed, in the ways that all families change. Today, we're not loading everyone in the car for a long ride to Grandma's house. Today, WE are Lolli and Pop (a.k.a. Grandma and Grandpa, a.k.a. Kelly and Dennis) and our family, both Ashley and Haney, are gathering here, 29 strong! (May I say that Kelly has been remarkably calm through all of this!)
Thank you, loving Father, for allowing and enabling our family gathering again this year.
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You are blessed to say the least. My grand babies and their parents are in the process of moving to Spokane WA so Pam and I will have sons in WA, OH and eastern WV while we are in KS. For us T-day has become a poignant reminder of what once was and no longer is. Enjoy your family on this day my friend - you are blessed indeed.
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