I prefer to fill this space with profiles of women from history you might like to meet for the very first time. However, it's the holidays, and I've just written a profile for November 29th at http://www.phoenixpublishingandbookpromotion.wordpress.com so I'm writing today about Thanksgiving. I faithfully write for Phoenix Publishing each month without fail, but I tend to push the deadline for my own blog until it's too late! I'll try harder!
This year Thanksgiving dinner at our house came from a Sheraton Resort and included turkey and ham plus many side dishes like sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad and other veggie dishes. The food tasted wonderful, but definitely not as good as homemade. However, the pecan pie measured up quite well!
We invited another couple over to share our meal that was billed as feeding two to four people. We did have leftovers and enough to send some home with our guests. As I said, the food was good, but I still miss the familiar taste of a homemade dinner.
What I didn't miss was getting up at 4:00 a.m. to put the turkey in the oven and standing up in the kitchen cooking all morning while trying to hear the Macy's Parade from the television in the living room. I did miss having my kids in the kitchen cooking with me and making jokes. They all have families of their own now and for that matter, kitchens of their own. Sigh.
The most wonderful thing about this year's celebration included sitting around the dinner table talking with our friends. Thanksgiving really isn't all about the food, is it? It's all about sharing and getting to know the people in our lives a little better. The food is just an excuse for getting together.
Phoenix couldn't have offered up a more pleasant afternoon. The four of us spent time after dinner out on the patio listening to the water ripple in the fountain and the hummingbirds setting up a hum overhead with their tiny but powerful wings. We had pie on the "fire escape" as my folks used to refer to the patio at our house back in Indiana. It couldn't have been a more relaxed day, and I wasn't exhausted from cooking when our guests went home to get ready to watch evening football.
Maybe I'm just a Pollyanna, but I'm not too worried about the state of the world. I'm just thankful I've got some perspective from remembering the past. The world will always have something going on that distresses us. Is it wrong to put the negatives out of mind for a day and take stock of our blessings? I think it's a brilliant idea, and I'm going to let history teach me something. I'm going to cook next year, but maybe we'll opt for a potluck!
Happy Holidays!
Coming soon:
More profiles of women from the outskirts of history!
Read On!
We-Tired and Writing - Cheryl Thomas writes fiction about women of the American Southwest.
