Thanksgiving's Past - Your Favorite Memories

[Disneyland Daddy]

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, I was sitting here remember Thanksgiving's past. People who are no longer around to share in the bountiful feast....and I started missing those people.

We used to split the day with my Dad's folks for a huge Lunch Feast and then go to my Mom's folks for a Dinner Feast. Such a filling day, I must say.

My memories go back to our days living in Anaheim:

Grandma Teresa and Grandpa Ruben - my Dad's parents - had a much more casual approach to the holiday. It was more of a buffet style and people sat in the dining room or glued to the TV watching Football or in the Kitchen. Needless to say, they had no choice in the seating arrangement because there wasn't enough room for everyone at one single place. My Dad was the eldest of 4 sons and he had my Mom and then the three of us kids. Then the next Uncle had a wife and two kids, then the next Uncle had a wife and 3 kids and the next Uncle had a wife and a daughter at the time. It was a full house. The noise level was on HIGH at all times.......and it was a good time indeed.

Grandma Ginny and Grandpa Rex - Mom's folks - had a bit more formal approach to the dinner. Mom only had a younger sister and in those days, she only had her (then) husband - no kids. So, we were all able to fit around the formal dining room table.

I remember walking in to the house smelling freshly baked pumpkin pie and smelling my Aunt's Pecan Pie. A lot of commotion going on in the kitchen.....

Grandma Ginny and Grandpa Rex always had a beautiful setting each year. I guess I remember it more because it was always the same each year. She had her Princess House Hurrican Lamps with Orange Candles in them......and her fine china out for use. We had cloth napkins and Princess House Goblets for water and other glasses for wine. She always made some sort of Jell-o mold thing too. I think it was just to make a prettier display on the table, to be honest - I don't know that I ever ate it.

I'm so thankful for those rich memories. Sadly, 3 of those 4 Grandparents have passed on in the last 8 years....Grandpa Rex spent Thanksgiving 2000 with us, and passed on Dec 3, 2000. I remember having a Ready-Whip 'war' squirting the whipped cream in each others mouth. Grandma and Grandpa really got a kick out of that.

I miss my Grandpa Rex and my Grandmothers Ginny and Teresa. I'm so thankful for my rich, Thanksgiving Memories of them.

Do you have any Thanksgiving Memories that you'd like to share?

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Alice's Wonderland]

I actually don't like Thanksgiving, and I've always whined and complained about it, so 8 years ago, I can't believe it's been that long, we spent Thanksgiving at Disneyland. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Goofy's Kitchen- and they had the full dinner plus a lot of other food. It was wonderful. The best Thanksgiving I've had by far.

[aimster]

Grandma getting drunk and telling everyone what she got them for Christmas.

[IzzyInWonderland]

We go to my aunt and uncles every Thanksgiving. They only live a half hour away in a very nice, wealthy community. Every year there are different people there depending on who invited who. It's always a fun time and there is always so much food that I only eat one plateful of a little taste of everything (darn my small stomach!).
When I was younger I remember spending holidays with my dads side of the family in Santa Barbara. I remember my Uncle Dave singing the "Turkey Song" to me which was a song he made up. Other then that I don't remember many Thanksgivings from my childhood.

[sir clinksalot]

It's odd, I only remember the bad Thanksgiving memories.

I was about 9 and at our friends house who had a pit bull. Somebody else came who had a poodle so they were kept seperated. I went into the back yard, huge dog knocked my skinny butt over and killed said poodle as everybody was eating dinner.

[PiG_GuRl]

My favorite memory is definitely has to be the first year that my cousins and I made videos... some sort of weird commercials.
We watch that video every year now just so they can laugh at me.

[knittingknerd]

It's odd, I only remember the bad Thanksgiving memories.

I was about 9 and at our friends house who had a pit bull. Somebody else came who had a poodle so they were kept seperated. I went into the back yard, huge dog knocked my skinny butt over and killed said poodle as everybody was eating dinner.

Wow! That's... okay seriously that's why we don't allow our dog to play with other dogs unless we know the dog. Sorry you saw that.

Maybe this is cheesetastic but I remember the first year we had the cabin (in the mountains) we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner up there. So it was this 1960s kitchen and I woke up really early to help my dad make dinner. I had to be like 14 or 13. And he taught me how to make stuffing. It was simple and easy but I learned how he made dinner. Onions, carrots, celery, and then mushing it together by hand, adding dried cranberries and raisins. Then helping him with the yams. And the weird thing is he let me make the yams my way, even though it was my first time doing it. I got to make half with marshmellows (ewwww. I don't like them), and half with brown sugar and butter. And I made the pumpkin pie (which next to latkes is my favorite thing to cook now). I felt really proud as we ate that year.

[RooBear]

*) My father, as you well know, passed away when I was four. Since my mother's family lived nearby (in New York), she decided that Thanksgiving would be with my paternal grandparents in rural Pennsylvania. Mom-mom, as she was called, was ethnic German/Amish by descent and would begin cooking three days prior for our arrival. My mother wanted to keep our connection to this side of the family alive and this was one of those things that really made the bond. The food? Oh my goodness, it was incredible. My grandfather, Pappy, would go out into the woods and find a small tree and we'd even have gifts.

*) The holiday kept going strong all through my childhood with us eventually moving to Colorado and continuing to eat and eat and eat. However, the surge of pride did not return fully until I didn't have my family with me for the first four months of undergraduate college. My mother picked me up that Thanksgiving morning and drove me home from the airport and everyone was already there...in the late morning...eating snacks at the table.

Truly, only in the states is there such a great holiday as Thanksgiving. My family shows and has shown it's love for one another with decent eats without compare. But it is truly more than 'giving thanks.' We shouldn't need a holiday for that. We just have the time to remind ourselves what our family is...even if it is with friends, pets, new colleagues and coworkers. Christmaskkah is good enough, to be sure, but there's pressure with gift giving and impressions that I just don't get and don't particularly like. But give me good food, 'family' and some excellent conversation and I know....

....I'm home.

So I do love me some Thanksgiving.

peace?
Roo

[sir clinksalot]

Roo ...

That's awesome.

[aashee]

My wife and I moved out together for the first time and invited the whole family over for Thanksgiving in our 800 square foot condo. That morning a water main burst and we had no water. Fortunately, we found out right away and moved everything over to my Mom's house.

Funny now but horrible at the time.

[Radiobarry]

Anyone here remember...Thrifty Drug Stores? (Western chain eventually bought out by Rite-Aid)

Anyone remember - lunch counters and even coffee shops that Thrifty used to have?

By far, my most memorable Thanksgiving was when I was 14...and everyone in my immediate family was bedridden with the flu.

We couldn't make it to the extended family dinner. We could barely make it down the hallway. But my Dad, rest his soul, was determined that we'd have a turkey dinner so he got dressed and drove the mile or so to the Thrifty's to stock up on meds, and get turkey dinners to go from the lunch counter. Eastgate Plaza Garden Grove, Valley View and Chapman. (Amazing the things one remembers.)

Later that evening, we ate what we could of the dinners, and laughed about what Thanksgiving had become for us that year - and gave thanks for our blessings.

That was 38 years ago, and I'll never forget it.

-- Barry

PS ...

Roo ...

That's awesome.

I concur.