Thanksgiving = Family

I feel like there is something I need to say today, but I'm having a hard time getting my thoughts together well enough to express it.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. My mind runs like a movie reel back over all the Thanksgivings I have had. The recent ones don't even really play out, it's the ones of years gone by that I have the most vivid memories of. I remember the year Grandma was in the hospital and I spent the night before Thanksgiving sleeping in her room and got to bring her home on Thanksgiving in time to have our usual dinner at her house. I remember when she use to do all the work and prepare a huge meal. My family would go over to her house on Wednesday night and carry the tables in from the garage and set the tables. I remember how happy I was the year we finally convinced her we could use plastic plates and still have a nice meal. Therefore shortening the time us kids would have to stand around in the sweltering kitchen cleaning up from dinner, taking turns washing the dishes and rearranging the fridge 5 times to try and fit more food inside it. I remember when Grandma got too frail to do it anymore, but still wanted to so badly. How we divided up the meal and still had the same dinner at her place each year until she was gone. Getting up early and going over and helping her with the rolls because she was determined she could still do them. It meant so much to her to fix a nice dinner for her family to enjoy.

By the time dinner was ready her house would be so hot. The front kitchen window would be steamed over with water droplets running down it. Sometimes even the big front room windows would have condensation on them. She never thought it was too warm. When Grandma wasn't looking we would turn the thermostat way down, open the doors, and crack the windows in a desperate attempt to get some cool air circulating. There were years we fit 40 people in that small space and everyone had a place to sit. After living there I don't know how we ever accomplished that.

After dinner the men would take over the TV Room and "watch football" which meant have a nap. The ladies would gather in the front room and go through the newspaper and chat for hours. Ideas would be thrown out of things we could go and do, yet we rarely ever got up the gumption to actually go and do anything. Thanksgiving means family to me. Time spent together with family we didn't often see. It was the one holiday of the year when we would see my uncle and other family that we rarely ever spent time with.

Marlee and Marijka don't have these memories, they don't remember the things I do about Thanksgiving and that makes me a little sad.

We were to spend the holiday with Kyle's family in Mesa, Arizona this year. I was looking forward to the opportunity to get to know them better, see their home, and spend some time with my nieces and nephews. At the last minute the trip was cancelled and we are disappointed. But we still have family and thanksgiving dinner here to enjoy so we'll be okay.

This post didn't even end up going the direction my thought were, so apparently I had something different to say than what is on my mind. I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving and get to spend it with friends and family you love.