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.