Tuesday, November 01, 2005

23 Days Til Thanksgiving!

Time to start planning your menu, clean the china and crystal. Get out the best table linens and silverware. Only the best for family and friends so don't even think paper plates!Thanksgiving is the one day we can gather and not worry about calories, not worry about kids wanting to open presents instead of eating, not worry about how to entertain all the people til the meal is ready. (Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and football games of course!) Its a day to give thanks for all our many blessings received the past year and we all have so many. When I lived in Florida my tradition was to invite all military that couldn't go home or didn't have family to dinner. I wanted all adults to be able to sit at one table so we could talk so I borrowed long tables from the community clubhouse. I set them up in one long line from the den thru the dining room into the livingroom. The last year there I had 21 adults sitting at my table and 10 children at the children's table. One year my oldest daughter came down with her friend and was so excited that she was going to sit at the adult table with all these people. I had some unexpected guests and my daughter ended up at the childrens table with her friend. She hasn't let me forget that one! I cooked for days to make sure I had enough food and enjoyed every minute of it. It became such a tradition that some of the airman wouldn't go home for Thanksgiving telling their family they would be there for Christmas as they already had plans for Thanksgiving dinner since the year before. We would laugh, talk, eat way too much. We would go around the table telling one thing we were thankful for, and remember the ones that weren't with us that year. We always ended up with some watching the football games, some sitting at the table talking and some outside with our own game of football with the kids. We finished the day by having Thanksgiving leftovers for supper and everyone taking home a plate of goodies. I lived in Florida for 5 years and when I moved my Thanksgiving dinners went down in size. Now we usually go to one of the daughters for Thanksgiving dinner (of course I have to take my special recipes with me). No matter where or how we celebrate our Thanksgiving we always count our many blessings. During the next few weeks I will share my recipes and memories of Thanksgivings and hope you share yours too. What I am thankful for today? My special friends that I have met here in the blog neighborhood. Hugs to all!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh yes I am grateful for meeting my new blog friends too.

Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, but over the past few years as via the internet I have gotten to know other cultures' traditions and customs I have always thought what a lovely celebration it is. Not this year as I don't want to add any more to my plate, but next year I want to celebrate it so I will be coming here to get some recipes lol!

love dollx

Maggie Ann said...

Blessings to you Peggy! Sounds like you shared your home and love for others many times. Those Thanksgiving dinners must have been wonderful. I'm thankful for our 'blog' friends too. Happy day wishs to you.