Thanksgiving Memories

Thanksgiving memories.   We all make them.  We all talk about them.  We all cherish them.

The turkey's gone, the families are gone, and most of the leftovers are gone, but the laughs and conversations still echo through the house.

This year is a first.  It's the first Thanksgiving where we had Marilyn, (Princess Marilyn is what she expects to be called).  Marilyn was here, complete with a turkey hat and turkey bib that Gram bought her....

and I know that one day she'll look at the picture and ask who did this to her and I will calmly say, "Mommy and Daddy did it."  It's her first year of seeing what damage a Workman clan can do to a fifteen pound turkey, not to mention the extra turkey breast, the stuffing, the ham, the vegetables and especially the pumpkin pies.  She may be traumatized.

I remember, also, another Thanksgiving at the Workman house.  It included Workman parents, a Workman brother and his family, a Workman sister and all her family, their children and spouses and kids, girlfriends and grandkids.  What fun!

Another Thanksgiving included Borings, (yes, that's my last name and I've already heard all the "Boring" jokes).  My dad was able to come up and the reason this is a special memory is because mom and dad divorced when I was three and he wasn't a big part of my life.  But this particular season, he came up.  It was the first time he had ever been to my house since I moved to WV as a young girl.  I had made all the fixins' and because he was crippled with arthritis and almost completely blind, I was fixing his plate.  I was asking him which things he liked and when I came to the sweet potato casserole, he said he didn't want any because he didn't like sweet potatoes.  But, because I think I make the best sweet potato casserole and my pride wouldn't let me pass it up, I put a little dollop of it on his plate.  So, when he finished his plate of food, I asked if he wanted any pie or anything else.  He passed  on the pie, but he said he wanted some more of "that stuff" pointing to where the casserole had previously been and all that was left there was a little smear of sweet potatoes.  He said, "what was that stuff, again?"  I said, "That was sweet potato casserole, Daddy."  He said, "Oh, I don't like sweet potatoes."  So I promptly went back and put two dollops on his plate.  He ate it all.  No, I don't mean he cleaned his plate.  He ate all my casserole!  I had to keep going back to get more, as we went through the whole "I don't like sweet potatoes" conversation again.

What sweet memories.  Daddy is no longer with us, but Marilyn has a whole lifetime of Workman Thanksgiving memories ahead of her.

There are places at our table that were empty, but are now being filled with the newest generation.  There are memories that we have to look back upon, but there are memories still to be made.

I'm reminded of my pastor's message on family, friends, and faith.  I'm so thankful for my family, who is my strength, who is my happiness, who is my very heart.  I'm thankful for my friends who are the bonus, who are the frosting on the cake, who are the "extra" blessing in my life.  And I am thankful for my faith, which is very small sometimes, but God blesses anyway.

1 Thessalonians 5:18  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.