Thanksgiving

This year we were lucky enough to have two Thanksgivings. The last time that happened was on my mission. Last Saturday we went to John's parents house for Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday and today, the traditional day, we are headed to the my parents house for dinner. Over the years we have usually hosted dinner at our home. Sometimes we had my parents visiting and sometimes we had friends join us.

I have been thinking about some of my most memorable Thanksgivings. I only remember having Thanksgiving dinner once at my dad's parents. They had a beautiful very formal home, so it was not kid friendly. Thanksgiving was with fine china and sterling silver. I remember Grandma had a relish plate with radishes (her favorite) and celery sticks with Cheez Wiz (our favorite) along with mini sweet pickles. That is about all I remember. One year we stayed overnight at The Homestead, in Heber, and had Thanksgiving the next day at their restaurant. My mom's mom died when I was 8, so Thanksgiving with her family was either at our home or one of my aunt's.

My first Thanksgiving away from home was the year I was in Jerusalem on the BYU Study Abroad program. We were on a field trip to the Sea of Galilee. The resort we stayed at hosted a Thanksgiving feast. They brought out the turkeys with sparklers and red, white and blue streamers, combining Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. Gotta love foreigners interpretation of U.S. holidays. :)

When John and I lived in New York City we had Thanksgiving with some neighbors and a friends husband who was staying at our apartment for a few days, kind of random, but hey when you don't have family near you make it work. We went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. A few years later when we lived in Connecticut we went down to my brother's apartment in NYC for Thanksgiving. We ate on paper plates on our laps. The night before we went downtown to watch them inflate the balloons for the Macy's Parade the next day. Another year we went down the day after Thanksgiving and Anne Marie and I went to The Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden and John watched the kids and then we switched and we watched the kids while he went to a basketball game at Madison Square Garden. Those were fun years when we lived so close to the city.

The last four years found us in Arizona. We often ate outside on the porch enjoying the nice weather. It was not usual to drive by a park and see a large extended family having their lunch at the park. After dinner we would go to my Aunt Mirium's house for dessert and the next day we would return to decorate gingerbread houses.

So those are some of my memories of Thanksgiving. They have been so varied, from paper plates and card tables, to fine linen and china. One thing that has always remained the same is the turkey and being with friends or family. That is what Thanksgiving is really about, the relationships and spending time with loved ones. I apologize to friends who read my blog, this was written more as a journal entry for my children. I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.