Thanksgiving

I am not sure what made me grow to love Thanksgiving as I do now-- I recall a time when what we had planned for this holiday wasn't much of a concern to me at all. When we lived in Texas (prior to moving to Alexandria, VA) we spent most holidays with my family (from Texas). November never really looked much like fall in Dallas, Texas... to me. In fact, I can't say as I really knew what fall looked like at all, up close. When we moved to Virginia, I remember calling a friend to say "listen to this!" as I stepped through mounds of crispy fall leaves on the ground. It was so ...fall! Of course my friends there thought I was crazy, but truly I had never experienced such a thing. It was absolutely beautiful. And the crisp air would lead to trees of fire, as the leaves turned from green to orange and deep shades of red before they let go, and twirled through the air gracefully to the ground. It led me to actually spend some time thinking of fall. We planted mums, and bought cute scarecrows and everyone was talking of Thanksgiving. In Texas, when the air grew crisp... it was Christmas! This was a whole new concept for us Virginians. Todd's family usually drove down from Frankenmuth, Michigan--and his mother loved to take a drive and see the fall colors. We always had a nice time, but I can't say that my tiny townhouse kitchen ever really inspired me to whip up a turkey dinner... and it just seemed we needed more people, to be festive. (I watched too much Brady Bunch as a kid, I know.) Whatever it was, I don't know... but as I told Todd when he tried to sway me from cooking a turkey this year-- we had eaten turkey dinner in a box from the grocery store, for 5 years. Well, except for the year we went to Cracker Barrell. Now back in Texas with my family close, we had invited my dad's whole side of the family (about 23 people) all to our house for Thanksgiving. I was planning to cook, and looking forward to it, in fact. I bought Martha Stewart's new dvd I think called "Traditional Thanksgiving". I highly recommend it. I totally learned how to prepare and cook my Thanksgiving dinner, all from that dvd. Anyway-- I was in my element... decorating the tables, cooking... the whole works. And then the people started pouring in. We all love turkey and dressing... my personal favorite. But as the day went on, I realized that I was as hungry for the sounds of voices in a house full of people I loved... as I was for a Thanksgiving dinner I really hadn't had in almost 8 years, the last time we were all together. We talked and laughed, and played games... and my "little" cousin Berkley (now probably 30) played the guitar for us while we drank wine, and our little girls (5-8 years old) danced. I realized as I looked into my 80 year-old grandmother's eyes, while she directed the bread content in my stuffing... that what I was hungry for... was family. I closed my eyes on that day in a quiet moment... and thanked God for bringing all of us physically to the place where we had spent so many years in our hearts ... together.
Happy Thanksgiving :)