Thanksgiving will soon be here and for the past couple of years we have not had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the family members. With trips up to Indiana, our family traditions have sort of taken a back seat. Growing up, we lived with my grandmother off and on for much of my childhood. She was the oldest of five children and grew up on a farm. She taught me how to sew and cook and I was very close to her. Family tradition was very important to her and that included birthdays. We had quite a few birthdays in December. My great-grandfather's birthday was on the 22nd and mine was on the 26th. My youngest daughter was born on the 12th. This picture was taken at my grandmother's house in celebration of our three birthdays. My great-grandfather turned 90 years old. I turned 24 and my daughter 2. Yes, our birthdays were usually celebrated on Christmas.
As I was looking at some of these old pictures and thinking about earlier memories of our family - (this picture is my grandmother, mother, me and my brother), I was thinking how safe I felt as a child. I had both my grandmother and mother to talk to about anything. Sometimes I miss her so much. Then the phone rang and it was my oldest daughter. "What are you doing for Thanksgiving", she asked. She was going to have to work part of Thanksgiving day (retail never sleeps) and then go in early Friday morning. I hadn't had Thanksgiving dinner for two years. I have 3 grown kids, 7 grandchildren and a great-grandson and they all live close to me. That certainly isn't very common in this day and age. So, our Thanksgiving tradition is returning this year. Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV in the morning! Football the rest of the day! All the traditional foods including my grandmother's pumpkin pie. Although I know the recipe by heart, I will get out her hand-written recipe and read it. At the end of the recipe she wrote "Good pie" and that will make me feel safe. I will feel her love and I will smile.
"Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go"
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone
