One Thanksgiving Remembered

I'm taking a little walk down Memory Lane. It's 18 years ago. It's before Leo passed away, and before any of my darling grandchildren are born. That year we gathered at my home in Totowa, NJ. This Thanksgiving Day we will gather at Kristin & Randy's lovely home in Manasquan. Some of the faces around the table will be different than they were back in 1997, but the family warmth, the giggles, the stories, the over-full tummies and the abundance of God's blessings to us remain very much the same. We are a blessed family, indeed! Thank You, Jesus!

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all...

Photo Credit: praisehuston.hellobeautiful.com

THANKSGIVING CO-OPERATIVE

1997—

Leo and I hosted Thanksgiving this year at our home in Totowa

in our compact dining room, which we made smaller

through poor planning of our home renovations

(We recently bought a smaller dining room table

and smaller, armless chairs to provide a bit more room

to maneuver, which is a huge help!)

Actually, this turned out to be one of our smoothest running feasts

attributable in part, no doubt, to years of experience

but even more attributable to good cooperation by all

I took a vacation day the day before

and got an early start house cleaning, then began

simmering cranberries and marinating mushrooms

Beth came in the evening. She peeled potatoes, stuffed dates

and worked on a new recipe, onions braised in honey and wine

Kristin arrived early Thanksgiving Day

and created a superb antipasto masterpiece

The night before my sister and Carrie spent making desserts

They baked pumpkin, apple and chocolate cream pies

and made a pumpkin bread, besides

I think they told the truth when they said

Uncle Ricky baked the chocolate pecan pie himself, but

I wouldn’t bet money on it. It was awesome! Awesome!

Carol said she stayed up until 2 a.m. keeping watch

over the hot pies cooling on their back deck

to make sure raccoons didn’t dive into our holiday goodies!

The escarole soup, the turkey and all the veggies were

(wonder of wonders!) ready on schedule

Rick, carved the bird and opened the wine

(once we found a corkscrew)

Leo led the blessing and we each

mentioned something we were specifically thankful for

then all partook (of more than we should have!) of course

Leo stationed himself at the sink (What a guy!)

and in between courses, Evert suggested

playing board games in the living room

There was Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble

I had to break a deadlock between my daughters

over whether hyphenated words are allowed

which we determined are not

since there are no Scrabble hyphen tiles. Sorry, Kristin!

Richie and Carrie are old enough now to fully take part

so there was much giggling, chatter and good natured teasing

Everyone took turns clearing away plates

The girls helped put up the leftovers

(and made packages to take home)

Carol carved the rest of the meat off the turkey...bless her heart!

Later, I brought out the old family photo albums

and we squeezed around the dining room table

trying to figure out who was who, especially

in the black and white photos from the 20’s and 30’s!

Aunt Carol Harris called from Florida to say she loved everyone

Frank called twice (We missed our brother.

He was with Ana’s family, at an even bigger feast for thirty!)

We sent and received e-mails from Leo’s daughters in North Carolina

and warm thoughts sailed across the miles and sea

to his sons in Florida and Germany

We also thought about Kevin in Amsterdam

who celebrated his Thanksgiving alone at a Burger King

and Michael in California and Donna and her family

(who we hoped would join us, at least for dessert)

She was spending the holiday with family in Pennsylvania

We wished everyone could have been with us

crowded into our cozy house around our dining and kitchen tables

but those were impossible wishes...                                                   

nevertheless, we were wonderfully full and very happy

and supremely thankful for all our blessings—

Maude Carolan