Thanksgiving

We just came through the Thanksgiving season and are now into the hecticness of the month of December and Christmas. We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving at Ken and Arlene's house. For the past maybe ten years the sisters who are in the area have been sharing Thanksgiving dinner at one of our homes (it would be fun if Linda could join us as well - but she is usually not in PA). Kind of a new tradition, I guess you would say. This year we picked up Joyce at her house and drove north to the Metzlers in Northumberland County. Brought back lots of memories from the years we lived in that area especially since they now live in the same town we lived in. For more on that read Jeannine's blog entry "Thanksgiving Nostalgia."

The whole event got me to thinking about Thanksgivings when we were kids, but you know nothing really memorable stands out about this particular holiday. I do remember that we often attended the local Thanksgiving service especially if it was held in our home church. I also have some memories of my brothers going hunting on Thanksgiving. One thing I do know is that turkey was not the fowl of choice for the Thanksgiving dinner table - to my recollection Mom never even learned to roast a turkey until after she was off the farm. Seems like the bird at the dinner table was either capon, duck, or goose which we were raised on the farm. I do remember the preparation of those birds for the dinner table on the day or days preceding Thanksgiving. (Insert sigh and shudder here!) Not my favorite part of Thanksgiving preparations by any means. And I remember that Mom always made oyster stuffing and mincemeat pie - those two things at least were standard at any Thanksgiving dinner no matter what else the menu included.

Regardless of the menu or other activities of the day, the one thing that remained constant was thankfulness. Thankful that we were a family and we were together and God was faithful. Some things never change and even though we couldn't all be together on Thanksgiving, I thank God for my family and the influence of family in my life both in the past and in the present.

And just as a side note in case you didn't have an opportunity to read Jeannine's blog - imagine our surprise in driving up to Arlene and Ken's house to be greeted by a large inflatable turkey. I almost thought I was at the wrong house! But hey, in case you don't believe me, I have proof in the picture. Arlene's grandson Christian and my grandson Dante thought it was wonderful. Seems like Arlene and Ken were "turkey-sitting" for the neighbor just so the children could enjoy the big guy!