Thanksgiving Memories

With turkey day only a few short days away I am reliving some of my fondest Thanksgiving memories. For my first 17 thanksgiving memories it was pretty much routine. My parents, one set of grandparents and myself. The five of us alternated either at our house or my grandparents who lived only a stones throw away in CA. We always had turkey and all the usual fixings. Always a weeks worth of turkey pot pie after and turkey sandwiches and then more turkey for Christmas. I really only have one unfortunate mishap that if my mind can remember was the year after my grandpa died (then there were 4). That year my grandma was in charge of pumpkin pies and bless her heart she forgot to put the sugar in them. No one said a word (until several years later) and we slowly ate the interesting tasting dessert. God love her if that was the only mistake she ever made, I miss her still.

When I married David almost 25 years ago our Thanksgiving events were usually spent at his aunt's house (the number was always more than 10 but less than 25 usually, what a change from my small family) since his parents lived here in MO and we only came out during the Christmas holidays. One year we actually winged it on our own just the 4 of us and I cooked the meal at our home. We managed to capture a picture of that event, I think the kids were probably about five and six years old. It was so nice just to have that small group.

The only other catastrophe's I can think of over the years was one year I actually forgot to take the baggy of "special items" out of the turkey. Hasn't everyone. And the year after we moved to MO I accidentally poured boiling potatoes on my arm a few days before Thanksgiving, what a way to get out of cooking. A trip to emergency room and dipping my hand/arm in cold solution and wrapping it wasn't a picnic.

Then after I found my biological family we alternated holiday meals. Our last holidays in CA we hosted and had everyone over, it was definitely bittersweet because some of them I never were able to see again.

This year I'm doing part of the cooking and my mother-in-law will do what she can. We have so much to be thankful for, her cancer is better this year than last, and things are going well (for the most part for everyone else). We added a daughter-in-law and family to the mix. I have a truly wonderful husband I can't live without, some friends that I couldn't do without.

I promise not to eat to much but still enjoy what I have.