Thanksgiving Memories

Hardy has wanted to decorate for Christmas for at least a month now. I understand why he wants to decorate – I too am a sucker for Christmas decorations, and usually decorate before Thanksgiving so that I can have longer to enjoy the decorations. This year however, I am waiting until the day after Thanksgiving. I am doing to teach a lesson to Hardy – we do not want to overlook Thanksgiving in our rush to celebrate Christmas. Thanksgiving is all about gratitude (at least once you get past grade school and stop talking about the Pilgrims), and that is definitely an attitude I want to inculcate in my children. So hence, we are waiting to put the decorations up or break out the Christmas CDs.

My family did not have many Thanksgiving traditions when I was growing up. I do not think it was a big holiday for our family, at least when I was younger. My parents ran a small grocery store from the time I was three until I was seven, and only had off the day of Thanksgiving itself. I do not recall us going anywhere or visiting any family that day – my parents were tired from working long hours and were thankful to rest at home. By the time the store went out of business (thanks to the construction of I-440 in Nashville, which destroyed the neighbor the store was located in, and passed about 10 feet from the back door of the store), I think our family was at a bit of a loss over what to do for the holiday.

I remember several years where we went out to lunch on Thanksgiving, which as a kid seemed like a huge treat. The only negative was that there were no leftovers, and I was a girl who relished leftovers, especially dressing. We spent a few years with my mom inviting over some neighbors and sharing a meal with them.

We finally started a tradition, now over, when I was in middle school. We started going to a small Mennonite church (yes we still had electricity and no I did not drive a horse and buggy or wear bonnets). Many of the people in the church were “Yankee” transplants to Nashville. Most of them were unable to get home for Thanksgiving, preferring to save any vacation time for longer trips over Christmas or Easter. Therefore, our church started having a church wide Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night. This went on for many years. It was potluck, but it was understood that my mother would cook the turkeys (three of them) and the dressing, as she did not, as she stated herself, “trust Yankee women to know how to make good dressing.” There was always the most amazing food available, and it was like being at a huge family reunion. The church was a small one, and I believe the crowd usually averaged between 30 and 40. I look fondly back at those church Thanksgiving dinners.

My most vivid memory of those dinners is of the turkey preparations in the days leading up to the dinner. We had a boxer who loved turkey more than life itself. My mother would sit up the night before the dinner, roasting the turkeys in the oven. My dog, Higgins, would sit up with her, sitting at attention in front of the stove all night. My dad would carve the turkey before the dinner, and he would always manage to slip a piece or two to Higgins. Then mom, not knowing the turkey dad had slipped to my dog, would fix him a large bowl of turkey. After devouring that, Higgins would retire to the couch for the day, snoring and at peace with the world.

One of the things I love about Thanksgiving is that it is a very easy holiday. I love to cook, so any cooking I do is enjoyable. There are no presents to buy, few decorations to put up, no Thanksgiving cards to send. It is a time to enjoy the fellowship of your friends and family, and to reflect on the past year.

This year, I am thankful for many things – for my family, for my husband, for my children, my dog, for friends, for intellectual stimulation, for the blessed mindlessness of reality television. I am thankful for my memories of past Thanksgivings. I am thankful for my life and for the beauty, I find around me every day.