Thanksgivings Past...

The original log home on my friend, Julie's, farm near Reidsville, NC. To me, it says, "Over the river and through the woods..."


It probably has something to do with my age, but I'm finding now that holidays remind me more and more of other holidays -- ones that happened a long time ago.

Our Thanksgiving this year was wonderful, as all those other ones have been. Last year will always be remembered as the year we were waiting to be grandparents, speculating about what this Thanksgiving would be like. And, of course this year will go down in the annals as Charlie's first Thanksgiving (which I blogged about at http://charliesprout.blogspot.com)!

And that reminds me of Thanksgiving 1977, when I was pregnant with my beautiful daughter, Meagan. Our official due date was December 2. So I decided that Thanksgiving was a very good day to start saying, "Any day now!" Thus began nearly a month of climbing [cumbersomely] into my bed each night, thinking, Tonight's the night...

Meagan will celebrate her 33rd birthday on December 22. If you had told me back then that she was going to be three weeks late, I don't know what I would have done! (I didn't realize then, that when I got to this age, three weeks would go by in a minute!)

I also remember a Thanksgiving Day early in our marriage...We still lived in Michigan then, so holidays were double; we alternated whose family we blessed with our presence first, and who got "satiated seconds." That year, we were headed to Metamora first, to eat with my family. I can see myself, dressed [adorably] in high-wasted turquoise courduroy pants and a striped sweater with a big, square collar, shoveling snow in the driveway.

I remember that year because it was one of the few times in my life I have ever shoveled snow! Also, because, even in Michigan, it was unusual to have snow on Thanksgiving Day! (I remember what I was wearing because my memories are vivid and complete. Don't argue with me -- I remember everything! For instance, I remember that on the aforementioned Thanksgiving 1977, I was wearing an oversized wool shirt that I had made, with a turtleneck underneath. And my pregnant body was entirely too hot to be comfortable!)

And of course I remember the one and only Thanksgiving (maybe the year before the snow) when I actually cooked a turkey. I dropped it on the floor when I took it out of the oven. (If you were there that day at our humble little home on Adams Street, you're probably hearing this for the first time -- Sorry about that!) Strangely, I don't remember what I was wearing; probably because it wasn't a good memory...

Now, let's go way, way back: Thanksgiving at Grandpa Borg's house, with all the cousins and aunts and uncles. Grandpa had the most awesome basement, complete with a bar! We have home videos of the entire family -- Grandpa and Grandma and their six offspring (my mom was third from the last), with spouses and a buttload of grandkids -- sitting at a long row of folding tables laid end-to-end and covered with white paper, which was covered with the remains of a Thanksgiving feast. Well, maybe it was just the adults sitting at the table. In the video, it appears that the kids just ran back and forth to the bar, taking turns "riding" on the swivel stool. (What doesn't appear on film was what we did in the other room with the steam bath and the laundry shoot.)

Now that Thanksgiving 2010 has become a memory, I can clearly see that what I remember most about all those holidays is the wonderful feeling of being part of a family, and of always having more to be thankful for than to complain about. And that each one was truly a celebration. And I am so thankful for the memories!