slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

The Pinnacle of Thanksgiving Happiness

By Lynn Walker Gendusa

Hard to believe it is Thanksgiving season again! I hope all of you have a beautiful day and consume mounds of morsels. Then, I will not feel so guilty!

I love Thanksgiving Day for many reasons. When I was small, it was a time when Mama worried over her turkey being too dry and would exclaim, "I just can't get my cornbread dressing right!" It was a day when my brother complained about the food because he never like anything on the table but the mashed potatoes. It was those special Thursdays when my Dad sneaked another piece of pecan pie, and we all laughed when Mama caught him.

Those were the youthful Thanksgiving days when I sat in front of the television watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and patiently waited for Santa Claus to come on the screen. Christmas was ushered in amid the aroma of turkey, apple pie, and sweet potato soufflé wafting through the house.

For this little girl, that was the pinnacle of happiness!

Once I became a mother myself, our extended families would gather on Thanksgiving, where a children's table was added. We travel to each other's homes bearing pecan pies for Dad, diaper bags for babies, and still declaring Mama's cornbread dressing was fine.

In those days, I never really thought about Thanksgiving changing or a time when I would long to see some of those folks again on a Thursday in the future. I believe it is those days when God protects us from viewing tomorrow and allows us just to enjoy the day.

However, tomorrows become today, and as the years flew by, Thanksgivings did change. I have a photograph taken on a Thanksgiving Thursday of my entire family fathered at my home. My parents, my brother, and his family, plus my children, smiled as they turned toward the camera. By then, I was divorced, and all the children were grown. The aroma of roasting turkey, sweet potatoes, and Mama's "not quite right" dressing still filled the air and warmed the soul.

It was the last picture taken of the family that was, and we knew it would be. Terminal cancer would take my brother by April of the following year. I was very grateful we celebrated that 1997 Thanksgiving together.

Eighteen months after my brother's death, my father joined him two days before another Thanksgiving Thursday. Afterward, the children scattered across the country, and all would come home for Christmas in the years that followed but rarely flew in for Thanksgiving.

On the Thanksgiving days that followed, there often would be only two or three folks around my table. But Mama and I were thankful we had the memories of good times and would laugh at the thought of Heaven having to make all those pecan pies and mashed potatoes.

Then one Thanksgiving, Mama didn't complain about her dressing. I figured an angel taught her how to finally "make it right," and Dad and John were glad she was joining them on a heavenly Thursday in November.

We all witness the ever-changing face of family over the years. We mourn the loss of days when we celebrated the holidays with those who are now gone. We often yearn for the past, but today I am joyfully thankful knowing I was blessed to have once sat a table with those fine folks.

Now on those holiday November Thursdays, I never know who might join us around the table. We could serve a turkey for 2 or 20. There is one thing about life that is certain; you never know what a new day can bring.

This year, my husband, along with two of my three children, my step-children, and three grandchildren will gather here. The children will watch the Macy's parade on television, and shouts of joy will erupt when Santa heralds in the Christmas season.

I need to start the ovens, gather the yams, and pull out the pecan pie recipe. I will worry over the turkey in the oven, and I will fret over the dressing being "just right." However, I do know those babies love mashed potatoes.

Families change, but Thanksgiving never will.

I will give thanks for a God who likes to remind us that if He is welcomed to our table, we are never without family. For this old girl, knowing He is there is the pinnacle of happiness!

bahmer

Amen and Amen an excellent post there Slatten old girl. You caused my eyes to leak as I sat here and also remembered with you and others of Thanksgivings gone past. Both of my parents are gone s well as my sister and my son and wife. My oldest daughter and her kids live in Maui and of course we won't get to see them. Only my youngest daughter and her two sons will be around the table this year as well as her husbands family and friends. I hope that you and yours has a wonderful Thanksgiving as well there Slatten as well as all of those here on OPP.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Thanks, Bahmer. As I read this, I was reminded repeatedly of our previous Thanksgivings. Although we still celebrate in the traditional manner, there is often less Family involved than in the past. And, unfortunately, most of my elders have passed on. I thought a good while before deciding to post this article a littler sooner than I had planned. It was my intent to motivate any I could towards making Thanksgiving as big a deal as it used to be for so many. A little early, perhaps, but here's hoping your Thanksgiving is also wonderful

Tug484

My last Thanksgiving with my mom, I was 24.
I told her I want to cook this time. Would you come supervise?
She asked if she could bring a family that had no one close.
That was my Mom.
I agreed.
The woman asked why I did the cooking.
I said, you never know when you will be the one that has to do all the holidays.
I was right.
My mom was k**led in a car wreck the next October, three days before her 55th birthday.
We buried her on her birthday.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

The vicissitudes of life, by their very definition, bring forth both highs and lows.

Wonttakeitanymore

Thank u slatted I cry for the thanksgivings I once had and pray that the future will b bright! I miss my family and don’t get to see my son much because he lives on the east coast! God is good though we we need to be thankful for past present and a bright future! God bless you and everyone! Here’s to creating new memories and never forgetting the old ones!

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

And thank you, sir/ma'am, for your thoughts on the upcoming holiday.

Tug484

Yes. I'm just glad I had her that long and she met all of our kids.
That next Thanksgiving and Christmas were the quietest ever.
I cooked at my house.
There were seven of us.
After we ate my dad left for Arizona.
Way too quiet that day.

bggamers Loc: georgia

I understand looking back and remembering. For us, the family has dwindled greatly kids grandfather and grandmother that was there during most of their growing years and cousin are gone. These people were the reason I chose to move back here to raise my kids when my family was out west. I felt that all these people on my ex-husband's side were important to them growing up with a larger family. Both my mother and father had passed as well as my uncle I only had a sister and 2 brothers all who were always moving. Now we still have each other my sons their wives and children whom I love and cherish. So I hope for all of you to have a great Thanksgiving full of family and friends.

Kickaha Loc: Nebraska

I am so happy that I managed to save a recording of my mother-in-law calling to wish my wife happy birthday. She passed away a couple years later and was buried on my wife's birthday. That was about 10 years ago and my wife still likes hearing her mother's voice on her birthday.

Tug484

That would be great to have something like that.