Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Thanksgiving Traditions





I still can’t believe next week is Thanksgiving. It just seems like yesterday it was hot out…oh wait, I live in Texas, so yesterday it was hot!

But seriously, this is one of my favorite times of the year. In my opinion, Thanksgiving is one of our unsung holidays because it doesn’t always get its due. I mean look what comes next.
Thanksgiving is the time where we give thanks to God for all the gifts he has blessed us with before we celebrate receiving of the greatest gift of all. The birth of our Lord Jesus.

So, as I sat down to write this, I thought about all the Thanksgivings that have passed in my life. At 57, there’s been quite a few that come to mind.

As a child, I remember all the family coming together over a wonderful meal cooked by my mother. Turkey and cornbread dressing, pies, and one of my favorites, my mother’s fruit salad. Of all the things that made the Thanksgiving meal so good, it was her fruit salad that I loved the most. It’s stuck with me through the years.
By then, the weather had usually turned colder, though we lived in a different part of Texas. I remember one year it even snowed. All special memories for a child.

One of our other traditions was to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. The floats and the balloons were great, but when Santa made an appearance we knew Christmas was on its way.


Most of my family have now gone on to be with God, so nowadays, Thanksgiving is bittersweet for me.

As a grandmother, we have our own holiday traditions, but I do my best to make all those wonderful dishes my mother made so well and that I loved as a child, (even the fruit salad). And on occasion we watch the parade still.    

So what about you? What are your family’s Thanksgiving traditions? Do you have some that you learned from your childhood and that you carry on to your children?  

 

All the best…

 

Mary Alford

3 comments:

Jackie Smith said...

I have a small family and their in-laws usually get them for Thanksgiving...I am not as demanding! lol However, my most precious memory of Thanksgiving is several years ago a family nearby had lost home, everything in a fire. A close friend and I spent the entire day visiting neighbors/friends to collect money for them. They were so appreciative, and we were truly blessed.

Mary Alford said...

Jackie, what a wonderful idea and a great way to spend Thanksgiving. It's amazing how blessed we are when we put the need of others first. Thanks for sharing.

Sally Shupe said...

One of our traditions is we go to my family's hometown the weekend before the holiday. So, this weekend we'll spend time with my family for Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. The same for Christmas. We'll celebrate with my family the weekend before. That way everyone can come, from aunt, uncle, cousins, and their families. The day of the holiday, we go to my husband's parents' house since they live close. Once my kids have families of their own, I don't know when to plan my time lol. The weekend before the weekend before??? Whatever it takes to get to see them.