From the time I was a little girl until I was in college, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Thoendels. I believe the tradition got started because my dad and Vic were always both on call. The tradition transcended a divorce/remarriage, and continued until the older kids started to get married and there simply wasn't room for everyone anymore.
The day was always so much fun. We played so hard all day. We always ate dinner without the couple of kids who were off playing in the neighborhood and couldn't be found. We filled the living room with smoke from our singed hair. We spent the evening making haunted houses in the basement, fully taking advantage of the fact that our parents were too engrossed in conversation to have a clue what we were concocting.
I remember the first year that we didn't go to the Thoendels for Thanksgiving. I remember feeling so rejected! With ten kids, plus significant others, it had just gotten to be too much, so the parents decided it was time to do our own Thanksgivings. It was horrible. They had ten kids (plus), we had two.
Over the years, we have bounced through the Thanksgiving gamut. We hosted my in-laws, had my grandpa and his sister several times, took a full-fledged meal up to the nursing home for my grandpas more than once, and the past few years we've gone to my grandma's. It finally feels like we have a tradition. Something that we can count on and look forward to.
This year I convinced my grandma to let me bring the pies. This is a big deal for two reasons. The first is that it isn't Thanksgiving if I don't make pies. If she doesn't let me bring pies, I will still make them and eat them by myself! The second reason is that she makes her pies in July and freezes them till Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nobody likes Freezer Pie. I think she was relieved to be able to save her pecan pie till Christmas, and I think I am just going to encourage her to let me bring the Christmas pies and save her's till Easter!
I am very thankful that my family has rekindled relationships, and that we can gather with joyful hearts. I am thankful that at the age of nearly 35 we can still gather at my grandma's house, and will for many years to come. I'm thankful that my family loves to sit around the table and visit, telling the same stories over and over. This year we will have much to discuss with my cousin's impending graduation from high school.
God has given us much to be thankful for!
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