Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving gratitude

We were up early this morning to work on getting Thanksgiving dinner together.  The turkey is in the oven and the ham is ready to be baked in another hour.  We aren't serving the old Smithfield ham that my father would cook when I was a child. That ham was salty and had a strong flavor which was the way old time Virginians liked their ham.  And the leftover ham would be served with biscuits for many days after Thanksgiving was over. But we are fixing sage dressing, butternut squash soup, corn pudding, yams, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, apple and pumpkin pies.

I can't help but be nostalgic about the Thanksgiving days of long ago when my father would carve the turkey and the ham with the bone- handled knife that has been in the family for generations.  My mother would have a tray of spiced apples and peaches and sweet pickles.  There would be mince and sweet potato pies with real churned ice cream. After dinner, everyone would retire to the living room where a fire would be burning in the fireplace. Those are some good memories.

But we are making new memories today. We have a fire going and friends coming over in the afternoon for dinner.  It may not be the same without any family here, but there is a lineage of good feelings and gratitude on this day. I am grateful for the time I did spend with family on Thanksgiving day. Those memories are precious and worth holding onto. And they carry me into this day. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

12 comments:

  1. I woke up today thinking of the silly celery stuffed with jarred blue cheese that my grandmother used to put out on holiday meals. Funny- the things we remember with such fondness.
    May you and your bride have a beautiful day with friends and each other. That is family too. I will be thinking of you.

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  2. Your thanksgiving sound lovely. We are making thanksgiving different for us this year by celebrating in Atlantic city NJ. We will have dinner at the buffet and play some black jack. Sometimes you just have to shake things up

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  3. make those new memories....i am envious of the ham...the ham biscuits the next day...at the in laws and they dont do ham, just turkey....been cooking all day and just ate...now everyone is settling in for a little football before we go for a very nice walk....happy thanksgiving, friend....

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  4. Happy Thanksgiving, Syd.

    I have fond memories of the holiday from when my grandparents were still alive. Today I am watching my mother- in-law's neighbors and kids throwing the football in the yard and enjoying their joy.

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  5. Happy Thanksgiving, Syd. So glad you're feeling the blessings today. :)

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  6. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Syd. I give thanks for your wonderful writing and the comfort I get from this community.

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  7. Syd your meal sounds beautiful -- and you and C will be making new memories for yourselves and your guests.

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  8. Happy Thanksgiving Syd. I hope it was a wonderful time with your sponsee and his family.

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  9. Happy Day After Thanksgiving, Syd! Making new memories is a good thing. I had 27 family members at my house and it was wonderful, but it was the first Thanksgiving since my ex-husband left me, and my son and his new bride live 4 states away, without the time or money to come here. But as you say, we can keep the best of the old memories and make some beautiful new ones. Here's to gratitude, and for new memories!

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  10. That's cool Syd. I hope you reveled in your own memories and made new ones to lay atop them.

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  11. Hi Syd, sounds like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by wonderful people. Making new memories is a true blessing...

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  12. I just inherited my parent's silver carving knife and fork. They were a bittersweet inheritance. I'd always thought them beautiful, but I'd prefer that my parents were still serving up the turkey with them. Which is to say, I can relate. New memories sounds like the only healthy response. A way to honour what car before

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