Thanksgiving, 2009. This is my favorite holiday, always. It’s meant for everyone. But most of all, it’s meant for reflection, celebration, good food, and gratitude. That’s how life should be summed up- reflection, celebration, good food and gratitude.
There is a quote from Jean Baptiste Massieu, Gratitude is the memory of the heart. The memories I hold about Thanksgiving are the dearest to me because they involve the people I love. Yesterday, when Lindsay and Scott were out looking at a house, Scott went to check out the backyard. He encountered something quite unexpected- a rooster and a turkey walking around. They were quite surprised. His first impression was that these were unusual pets. Then he realized the obvious. “They must be planning on using these birds for Thanksgiving,” he whispered to Lindsay. When they told me about it, I told them to call my mom and have her tell them about the time when she was a little girl in Scranton, Pennsylvania and they had a pet turkey that they grew very fond of. They named him “Tommy”. When Thanksgiving came, Tommy became the “guest of honor” and not in the good sense; he was the main course. Well, my mother and her six brothers, sister and whatever cousins were living there at the time protested. They sat at the table and refused to eat Tommy. In tribute to Tommy, I have named every bird I cooked personally on Thanksgiving after him.
My collage of Thanksgiving memories are like snapshots in my mind… my dad expertly carving the turkey, the time when I went to pick Kimberly up at pre-Kindergarten and on the bulletin board was her turkey, that said “I am thankful…that I don’t have to sit in the corner all the time like I did last year in nursery school”, the time when the four of us decided to do Thanksgiving with just us and we cooked all day and had the most amazing time being together. I remember, as a kid and young adult, spending every Thanksgiving with my Aunt Dorothy’s family, my cousins, Regina, Gary, Liz and Matthew. That harvest table we ate at when Thanksgiving was at Regina’s house on Schenectady Avenue became my table, eventually, and then was passed on to my friend, Roselee. It held and continues to hold many Thanksgiving feasts and many memories.
I recall when we stopped having Thanksgiving with Regina’s family. It was when we were all getting married and there were in-laws and other extended families now to spend Thanksgiving with. That is the dichotomy of family and holidays. We branch off. It’s happening today as Lindsay and Scott will spend Thanksgiving dinner with Scott’s family and Mark, Kim and I will be at Mark’s cousin’s Caryn’s home. I won’t even be with my mom this year. Although, look at how our branches have multiplied. Now that’s cause for celebration. There are marriages and births and Thanksgiving tables are surrounded with new faces to join us. It cancels out the loss of the ones who carved the Turkeys so perfectly, the ones who baked the sweetest cakes, the ones who told the funniest jokes. They are gone, not forgotten. It’s bittersweet how the ones who have passed continue to be here in one way or another. Lindsay has inherited my grandma Fannie’s talent for baking from scratch. She makes the most delicious rainbow cookies. Last night, their sweet aroma filled my kitchen as she prepared them to bring for dessert at cousin Caryn’s house when she and Scott will join us later on.
Today we will sit around the table and dine together with our loved ones. There will be laughter and wedding talk this year, for us. That has happened many times before; however, this year, it will be my oldest daughter that the wedding talk will be about. I have so much to be grateful for, memories to hold onto, memories to treasure at the moment and memories that we dare to dream for the future….
(Thanksgiving, 2010.) Lindsay and Scott hope to make Thanksgiving in their home next year. My mom bought them a carving set for their engagement. Lindsay wrote in the thank you card how she will always think of her poppy when she uses that carving set. And next Thanksgiving my family will officially include Scott. Scott will probably be the one carving Tommy, the turkey, next year…
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