Let Us Give Thanks….
We’re in countdown week leading up to Thanksgiving Day. This year, Thanksgiving may look differently for you as it will for us due to Covid concerns. Ron and I have been planning a pared-down menu including just a few of our favorites. In a way, there’s a freedom in doing this special day with a bit more simplicity.
While I love holiday hubbub, I can lose sight of the true meaning because like Martha, I easily become bogged down with ‘too many details.’ (See Luke 10 for the story behind this comment.) This photo of an almost-Pintrest-perfect veggie tray I spent a lot of time creating a couple Thanksgivings ago is one example!
While Ron and I enjoy our Thanksgiving meal, I imagine we’ll engage in conversations about Thanksgivings past. Since my mom’s death a few short months ago, this will be the first Thanksgiving we’ll spend without a single living parent. Sweet memories will ease the bitter transition that comes from saying permanent earthly good-byes to loved ones.
Thanksgivings in both of our families were joyous occasions. The days were filled with lots of food, family, friends, laughter, and chatter. Old memories were relayed. New memories were made. Even though neither of us came from perfect families, my husband and I know we’re blessed to have warm holiday memories.
As the two of us sit at our Thanksgiving table this year, I will probably tell Ron—once again—about waking Thanksgiving morning, knowing my dad was in the kitchen, wearing a white apron, and grinding ingredients for his famous-in-our-family stuffing. I can still feel my eyes stinging from the pulverized onions and smell the intoxicating scents spices--especially sage.
We’ll probably chuckle as we recall the Thanksgiving Ron’s mom finally sat down to eat after looking frantically for the serving bowl of peas. Poor Loretta fussed that entire meal about those peas, which showed up later when someone retrieved ice cream for dessert! I don’t think my sweet mother-in-law ever figured out how she’d managed to put the peas in the freezer instead of on the dinner table!
Always, we think of the memorable Thanksgiving we spent eating our dinner in two different hospital cafeterias. Ron and our daughter, Sarah, were in Spokane, Washington, with his mom who died less than three months later. I was in Santa Rosa, California, with our daughter, Angie, awaiting the birth of our second granddaughter. Our precious little ‘turkey,’ Mackenzie Kathryn, arrived finally and perfectly after a scary labor/delivery process.
2020 has been challenging on so very many levels. It’s easy to focus on problems rather than blessings, and today, I am grateful for the special reminder Thanksgiving Day brings.
May you be blessed as you prepare for, remember, and give thanks during this 2020 Thanksgiving season!
