After all these years I still look back on those days wistfully. Many of the people have passed on now, but their laughter and faces remain vividly etched in my mind. The gathering at that table was all about family, and the tradition of Thanksgiving facilitated the coming together over distances big and small. I think that the thing that stands out most for me is the size of our gathering: twenty-five to thirty people, sometimes more. I know what my parents did and how they did it, but I still can’t believe it now.
These days Thanksgivings are less crowded. My cousins and I all have our own children now, and unfortunately we are spread out far and wide instead of all together. I suppose this happens naturally over the course of time, and the way things were when we were young can never be replicated in just the same way. While I wish I could bring back the aromas of those mornings, see Nana peeling her apples and feel her slapping away my hand, hear Pop with his raucous old vacuum, or help my father carry those clunky chairs up the basement steps, I know those days are gone.
Now, with having to cook and entertain as a parent (for a much smaller group), I don’t have the same experience. Still, it is what will be my daughter’s memory that we are creating. She will watch the parade (but old King Kong is gone); she will play with her own cousins, and hopefully remember wistfully one day what we shared. Yes, the pies will be store bought, the turkey pre-cooked, and the fixings not from scratch, but the gathering is the thing: a harvest of traditions passed on once again. Indeed, there is something to be thankful for, and that’s what the last Thursday in November is all about.
Article comments
1 - diana hartman
oh victor...nice, very nice...sigh...
2 - Lisa McKay
Great piece, Victor. Thanksgiving seems to be the one holiday that we haven't commercialized beyong recognition - thanks for sharing this very nice reminiscence!
3 - Victor Lana
Lisa and Diana, thanks for your comments. For some reason I was standing in the yard raking leaves yesterday, and this all came back to me. I think it was the smell of the cold in the air, the hush of the wind.
I like Thanksgiving because it is not a religious day. Everyone can celebrate it in their own way for their own reasons. That's why it's still relatively pure. Even the department stores can't ruin it. People rather be home with family than shopping.
4 - diana hartman
maybe you could go out and rake some more leaves because i'd like to hear more about your thanksgiving -- your cousins, traditions you've brought from childhood, traditions you've created for your own kids, all that stuff...
cold air and the smell of winter coming in gets me all excited for christmas, and thanksgiving at my grandparent's house was always the starting point...they had an aluminum tree, the nice kind, not the spindly number...i could watch the color wheel go 'round for hours and i always hoped it'd get stuck on blue...
i was the only granddaughter for 10 years so i had to force my way into the reindeer games with 9 male cousins and 3 brothers...my brothers would take a bullet for me but in those days their loyalties were all male so i was on my own...their favorite game was "kill the guy with the ball"...i was not a fan but it was better than yard darts any day and of course i was always "it" first...
the best part was eating and, much like your childhood home victor, desserts were abound...i never liked aunt peg's pink stuff but i loved a sliver of pumpkin pie with a mound of cool whip...one year i got seriously hurt in a game of "kill" and couldn't eat much but grandma brought me a bowl of cool whip and i got to lay in her huge feather bed with those wonderfully icy cold pillows cuddled up underneath a very heavy quilt and watched the parade on her little b/w tv...it was the coolest...
i was 32 yrs old and over a thousand miles from home by the time a space at the big people table opened up...by the time i returned home the elders had all moved and/or died so i never got to take my rightful place alongside the big people...sitting at the table with everyone at my sister's house just wasn't the same...
i loved being with my grandparents, and man oh man was the food good all those years...
5 - Victor Lana
Diana,
That coveted place at the adults table is still part of the conversation in my family. Oddly enough, today my daughter seems only too happy to be at the folding table with her cousins. In retrospect, I think I was too.
Happy T-Day!
6 - Nancy
A lovely, wonderful post, Victor. Thanks!
7 - Victor Lana
Thanks for the kind words, Nancy. Happy T-Day!
8 - Temple Stark
One of your fellow Blogcritics writers pointed your way as a pick of the 11-19/11-25 week. Click HERE to find out why.
Cheers. Temple