We took down much of the Halloween stuff Friday night when we closed out the Trick-or-Treat time, and took down the rest on Saturday. We put up the turkeys and scarecrows for Thanksgiving on Saturday. The cute guy changed over the radio broadcast to the Thanksgiving program - he has put together the Halloween mix, the Thanksgiving mix, and the Christmas mix for the broadcast on the radio station. You need to be pretty close to my house to pick it up on 106.5FM - it is a short-range FM transmitter.
I came late to the turkey party, but I have embraced the concept of "Thanksgiving" for all I can - my table is open - if you are alone on Thanksgiving, I will always have room for another chair at my table!
I have much to be thankful for in my life.
Thanksgiving was not a major holiday for my family when I was a little kid, as it mostly signaled the start of the "heavy-mail-season." We did not have relatives in the area, so there were none of those major gatherings-of-the-clan that all my friends attended, complete with multiple generations in attendance. The only things that come to MY mind when I think of Thanksgiving as a kid are watching the parade on television and getting in trouble over the sweet potato casserole.
I hate sweet potatoes.
My brother loves them.
So every Thanksgiving, there was this sweet potato casserole with mini marshmallows on top. Every year, I tried to just take a spoon of the marshmallow topping, and every year, my brother pointed out that I only took "topping" and not sweet potatoes, so I had a big spoon of the dreaded sweet potato goop slopped onto my plate.
Yucky stuff.
Did I mention I do not like sweet potatoes?
So then, after we came to Minot, the first two years we were here we did not even celebrate Thanksgiving. The cute guy was out in the missile field on Thanksgiving, and I was home alone with two toddlers, who neither knew nor cared if it was Thanksgiving anyway. I was not feeling particularly thankful at that point, mostly just lonely. Everybody was tied up with their own family celebrations, and they made it sound like everybody but me was gathering up on Walton's mountain having a Norman Rockwell holiday celebration. In my brain, they all were off having a lovely party-time while I sat home, excluded, left out and all alone, and felt sorry for myself.
The following year, the cute guy got a different commander - one that embraced "family holiday time" - and he decided to invite the families out to the missile field to celebrate the holidays with the guys. The daughter was now attending kindergarten in school, learning about all the Walton's mountain Norman Rockwell holidays her friends were celebrating.
So it began.
It began slowly at first, but I learned first to participate, then to enjoy, and then to embrace the holiday.
Those years the cute guy was not in the missile field, we invited his crew of guys to the house to join us for the holiday. One thing I am not sure everybody processes mentally - they talk about "the military" in great political speeches and sound bites, but I am not so sure the general public registers how very young the military is. For many of the crew, this was their very first holiday away from home. Having experienced that soul-crushing holiday loneliness myself, I became determined to do what I could to NOT have it happen to anybody else on **MY** watch!
So now, my table is open. If you cannot be with your own family for their Walton's mountain Norman Rockwell celebration, I invite you to join mine. It is not Walton's mountain. Martha Stewart would have sixteen kinds of hissy fits. The Flylady will throw up her hands and run away screaming about "clutter." Norman Rockwell will not show up.
But there will be love. And laughter. And acceptance.
The turkey will be tasty, there will be soft bread and plenty of gravy - vats and vats of gravy, which is my favorite beverage - but no sweet potatoes.
And most of all - there will be hugs and love and laughter and thanksgiving for all of our blessings.
Which is a blessing in itself.
THAT defines this holiday to me.
I came late to the turkey party, but I have embraced the concept of "Thanksgiving" for all I can - my table is open - if you are alone on Thanksgiving, I will always have room for another chair at my table!
I have much to be thankful for in my life.
Thanksgiving was not a major holiday for my family when I was a little kid, as it mostly signaled the start of the "heavy-mail-season." We did not have relatives in the area, so there were none of those major gatherings-of-the-clan that all my friends attended, complete with multiple generations in attendance. The only things that come to MY mind when I think of Thanksgiving as a kid are watching the parade on television and getting in trouble over the sweet potato casserole.
I hate sweet potatoes.
My brother loves them.
So every Thanksgiving, there was this sweet potato casserole with mini marshmallows on top. Every year, I tried to just take a spoon of the marshmallow topping, and every year, my brother pointed out that I only took "topping" and not sweet potatoes, so I had a big spoon of the dreaded sweet potato goop slopped onto my plate.
Yucky stuff.
Did I mention I do not like sweet potatoes?
So then, after we came to Minot, the first two years we were here we did not even celebrate Thanksgiving. The cute guy was out in the missile field on Thanksgiving, and I was home alone with two toddlers, who neither knew nor cared if it was Thanksgiving anyway. I was not feeling particularly thankful at that point, mostly just lonely. Everybody was tied up with their own family celebrations, and they made it sound like everybody but me was gathering up on Walton's mountain having a Norman Rockwell holiday celebration. In my brain, they all were off having a lovely party-time while I sat home, excluded, left out and all alone, and felt sorry for myself.
The following year, the cute guy got a different commander - one that embraced "family holiday time" - and he decided to invite the families out to the missile field to celebrate the holidays with the guys. The daughter was now attending kindergarten in school, learning about all the Walton's mountain Norman Rockwell holidays her friends were celebrating.
So it began.
It began slowly at first, but I learned first to participate, then to enjoy, and then to embrace the holiday.
Those years the cute guy was not in the missile field, we invited his crew of guys to the house to join us for the holiday. One thing I am not sure everybody processes mentally - they talk about "the military" in great political speeches and sound bites, but I am not so sure the general public registers how very young the military is. For many of the crew, this was their very first holiday away from home. Having experienced that soul-crushing holiday loneliness myself, I became determined to do what I could to NOT have it happen to anybody else on **MY** watch!
So now, my table is open. If you cannot be with your own family for their Walton's mountain Norman Rockwell celebration, I invite you to join mine. It is not Walton's mountain. Martha Stewart would have sixteen kinds of hissy fits. The Flylady will throw up her hands and run away screaming about "clutter." Norman Rockwell will not show up.
But there will be love. And laughter. And acceptance.
The turkey will be tasty, there will be soft bread and plenty of gravy - vats and vats of gravy, which is my favorite beverage - but no sweet potatoes.
And most of all - there will be hugs and love and laughter and thanksgiving for all of our blessings.
Which is a blessing in itself.
THAT defines this holiday to me.