A few Thanksgiving Thoughts

Thanksgiving makes me vaklempt for some reason.  Maybe it's all of the memories from my childhood.  Then I think of everyone I have been away from for so long, or have left this earth and start missing them.  So many of the people that made my memories up are no longer with me and that stings.  When I smell my turkey cooking I am instantly transported back in time to a happy place. Damn sense of smell has some nerve getting me all welly like this!

As I was cooking this morning I thought of when my Nanny turned over gravy making duties to me. It was a moment that I will never forget.  Kind of like winning the gold medal in the Thanksgiving making Olympics.  I can remember sitting in her kitchen absolutely engrossed in all she was doing to make our dinner.  I can remember when we switched to having it at my mom and dad's house because our clan was outgrowing her house.  I can remember my dad having to build an extension for their dining room table after awhile because we were still growing and needed more table space.

Then I got married and moved away.  Oh I went back for a Thanksgiving for a few years, but it's hard to travel on that day.  Particularly on the NJ Turnpike and 95 south, and with kids, so I started building a tradition for our family here.

Fast forward to the here and now, cooking like crazy for my family.  It's just us, but my girls keep asking if I remembered to get this, or did I get that.  And the "just us" grew by two, a number which will continue to increase exponentially my daughter Erin pointed out.  With my four girls I am bound to be blessed with more significant others of theirs and their children.  I want to add an addition on to my Thanksgiving table some day.

I kind of get it now, how my mom and her mom would cook like they did.  We always joked around that it took days to get ready, and it was gone in minutes.  But it brought us all together, just for one day, just to celebrate all we are blessed with, just to forget anything bothering us and just to enjoy each other.

It was an expression of love.....

And I just love carrying on that tradition.

Happy Thanksgiving! Love you all!