Thanksgiving Traditions

I love Thanksgiving! It's always been my favorite holiday---filled with memories of large family gatherings at my grandparent's farm or an aunt or uncle's house. Coming from a large extended family where I'm one of 32 grandchildren on my mom's side and one of 19 grandchilden on my dad's side, there was always excitement surrounding the holidays or any family gathering, for that matter.

I looked forward to them as a child, took them for granted as an adolescent, and enjoyed the reconnecting as a 20-something. My friends always enjoyed hearing the stories and just couldn't imagine what those large gatherings entailed. Almost always, there were trips to the Emergency Room, teasing & taunting among the cousins, chasing cows down the lane to creek, tying someone to a tree/post/tractor, loud euchre card games between the aunts/uncles, pipe smoking by Grandpa, way too much food & bottled sodas, games of Kick the Can, hay forts, Ouji Board frights, fighting over who would get to sit on furniture and who would plop down on the laminate-tiled floor, living room tag in the snow/rain, and most certainly...laughter---and a lot of it!

As we got older, Thanksgiving rotated between aunts & uncles homes and that always meant sleepovers. Who doesn't love sleepovers with their cousins? Again...fighting over beds, best positioning of the sleeping bags, who would get a pillow and who would suffer without, laughing and giggling until the wee hours and knowing that no one cared because there were serious card games going on that no child could interrupt. I remember waking in the middle of the night to raid the olive jars (and later to steal the beer or sample Grandpa's homemade cherry wine) and then playing 'stupid' when an aunt would wonder why we had no olives (or beer or cherry wine)for dinner on Thanksgiving afternoon. Grandma's homemade cinnamon rolls or donuts for breakfast, jello salads, & staying in our pajamas until we were forced to 'go outside and get some fresh air'.I'll forever miss seeing the back sides of all of my aunts fighting for counter space as they cleaned up the dinner mess---little did they know that there were a couple of cousins hiding under the large kitchen table listening to the chatter & gossip.

I am so thankful for the large extended family that continues to sustain us and to remind me of the most important gifts: spending time with those we love. Those memories have helped me to create the loving & playful traditions that I share with Josie and our friends in Fresno.

Now that I'm living across the country from my large extended family, I still have that nostalgic feeling about Thanksgiving. I still love it and while I'll never re-create that crowd or be able to reproduce those menus, I watched as my daughter soaked up and savored every moment of our Thanksgiving today. I joyfully realized that she's making some of her own favorite memories. She, too, was looking forward to Thanksgiving and made a list of the people she knew would gather at our house. She knew there'd be that "old dead turkey" to eat, that Paige, Brian & Marsha would come with food, and she knew there'd be games to play and lots of giggling to do. She was thrilled to have both of her parents together for Thanksgiving this year and we all delighted in her energy and excitement.

Josie spent all day giggling and when I was cleaning up in the kitchen she hurried in quickly, grabbed my legs and said, "I have to tell you something, Mommy!" When I leaned down for the inevitable whisper, she pressed her nose to my nose, gave me a big hug and said, "I love Thanksgiving!" She ran out as quickly as a flash (I suppose to make sure she didn't miss out on any opportunities to laugh?) but it left me feeling so proud of the traditions we've created.

I wonder which memories Josie will share some day?

(Finger nail painting, Parcheesi, I Spy, gummy bear cake, Guessture tournaments, passing flatus, 'old dead turkeys', Tripoli, poker, being with people who love her?)