Thanksgiving, Our Way

I decided a long time ago that Thanksgiving was really about taking the time to count your blessings, being with what family you can, remembering and honoring the ones that cannot be with you or are no longer with you, and that it should not be stressful.

We had big Thanksgivings when I was growing up.  I remember tables that took up the whole dining room and living room.  Once my grandmother moved in with us, it seemed our house was the place to be on Thanksgiving.  When my brother was in college we never knew who would show up.  He would bring home all the strays that had no where to go.  Mom would cook for days. I would have to polish silver.  The china came out of its cabinet (I hated that china, it all had to be washed by hand).  Then there was the noise. Oh my gosh, it was loud.  Once everyone left and the kitchen was cleaned and everything put back together, we would all collapse.  I remember the sense of having a lot of love in the room, but I don't remember it being fun, or even very enjoyable.  Just lots of stress.

It wasn't until we moved to Kentucky that it slowed down a little.  Grandma still lived with us, but we were farther away from the family and fewer of them came on the holidays.  Dad finally said that he thought we only needed one type of potatoes (candied sweet potatoes, no marshmallows), turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry something green, and some pies. Simplify.  So we did.  The stress level lowered considerably.  

When Raymond and I married and moved to Texas, we took in strays.  We had only the basics, but a full house.  We didn't know how much turkey to purchase, so that first year Raymond had to eat turkey for lunch for weeks.

Once all our strays got married or moved away, we started just having Thanksgiving by ourselves, which meant we could have whatever we wanted.  For many years that became Mexican food from scratch.  Later we varied it a lot between traditional and non-traditional years, lots of people or just the four of us.  

Since Raymond died, it has been just the three of us most years, with very simple meals and a day of game playing.  

Yesterday was Thanksgiving number six without Raymond.  We started the morning with pancakes from scratch, the boys, Loni, Kyle and I sat around the breakfast table and caught up on everyone's life. Kyle stayed to play games with the boys.  Thanksgiving dinner was grilled hamburgers on homemade buns, grilling beans from a can, deviled eggs for Loni, and pumpkin pie.  It was just the boys, Loni and me.  There is only one thing that does not change around my Thanksgiving table and that is we go around the table and everyone must say at least one thing they are thankful for before we can eat, and the youngest cannot say "ditto" just to get out of it.

Since there was not a lot of kitchen time required for our Thanksgiving, I was able to spend time with everyone.  We watched Shaun the Sheep.  We took a load of baskets over to Loni's and unloaded them and made sure everything was okay at her house.  Once home we played board games.  We played Flux, Split, Blokus, Doubles Wild, and Quirkle.  Then it was time for more Shaun the Sheep.  

Now it is the day after Thanksgiving.  Loni has left to go to the Bahamas.  The oldest has left to go to Wills Point, TX. The youngest and I are on our own, but without a lot of leftovers we did not want, no stress, and I have lots of good memories.  

A great Thanksgiving in my book.