Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. One of those national holidays we celebrate where the original pilgrims survived by the grace of God and Native Americans. Our ancestors repaid that kindness with 250 years of taking land. Manifest Destiny only furthered our insatiable appetite for land and...dang, already on a tangent after the first word!

Thanksgiving. Turkey. Food. Friends (more on topic). Sunday, August 22nd, we had some wonderful friends over for Turkey. We bought some turkeys after Thanksgiving for dirt cheap and stuck them in the bottom of the freezer for our eventual "Thanksgiving in July" we started. I dunno why we didn't do it last year...never mind I do, doesn't matter. July turned out to be pretty hectic with Shannon's miscarriage, our anniversary and our vacation/anniversary/Shannon's business trip to Chicago to plan for. We pushed it back to August and had 4 other families come, all with children, ranging from 10 years to 5-6 mos. I took out the extras from the halfway frozen turkey and placed it in our roaster before going to church.

When we walked in the door, faint smells of turkey wafted through the air. Shannon made mashed taters and stuffing while I cleaned the rest of the living room and moved chairs to allow for better seating. Sweet potato soufflé, green bean casserole, rolls, pumpkin and chocolate pie and banana pie all made their appearance. I started carving the Turkey as people got here and finished up everything for a Wonderful meal.

Why share this experience? I think Thanksgiving never be put off until November of each year every year. We have things to be grateful of throughout the year and should be celebrated. Does that mean we should eat Turkey 6 times a year instead of 1? Sure!!! Who doesn't want sweet potato soufflé and turkey more often? More importantly, we need to be able to show our thanks and more importantly, be grateful no matter what. Friends to be around is a wonderful blessing.

Finishing up my college studies is something I still am thankful for. Some teachers may get a bad rap because of how hard they grade but I understand that they try to push you to do better. My teacher in my class for the 20 page history paper in my last semester was one of those. She pushed us for perfection and unfortunately, I only learned that in the last 3-4 weeks. But she also recognized the hard work I put into it. I know there was no way I was able to get a "B" in the class but a "B" I received. My diploma came last week and EVERYONE around me for the last couple of years was grateful FOR me for getting it.

I look forward to November for more wonderful food and the chance to express more thanks for the marvelous wonders in my life. Oh, please pass the dark meat and the gravy. :-)