It’s been a long time since our nuclear family has been together, almost 4 years, I think. We celebrated our parents’ 50th wedding anniversary in December 2011, and everyone was there.
We weren’t planning to be together this Thanksgiving; originally, we were going to be in 3 different states. But life and some medical issues intervened, so we will all gather at my parents’ house.
The littlest ones are the most excited. Five-year-old Victoria delights in telling each of us, every time she talks to us, that she is coming to Minnesota for the “Thanksgiving Feast.” What, we ask her, does she mean by the “Thanksgiving Feast?” Well, I don’t know, she says. But it apparently involves a lot of food and inviting VERY MANY people!
Obviously, they’ve been talking at school about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. We’re trying to decide if we should dress up and do a re-creation. And, we ask her, what kind of food should we have at the Thanksgiving Feast? Mostly, she says, we need a BIG turkey leg. And pie. Lots of pie.
Seven-year-old Erik is also excited, except that he doesn’t like potatoes, in any form (and we all know the major role potatoes play in this holiday dinner). Not baked, not mashed. French fries are ok, though, he says with a twinkle in his eye.
The must-have food for Erik is – as he decribes it – that stuff like a soft shell taco, but you put butter and sugar on it and roll it up. Oh, you mean lefse? we ask him. That’s it – lefse! (We’re not telling him it’s made from potatoes.)
So, we will have a traditional Thanksgiving, with my parents, my siblings and their kids. (We will be missing Nic and Diego, though.) We are all a little older, a little wiser, and a lot more weary than the last time we all gathered.
But the company will be good, the food will be awesome, and we will be thankful for so many things. (Don’t tell Erik about the sweet potato casserole – its new name is yam casserole.)
Wishing you and yours a happy Thanksgiving, filled with love and good food, and a chance to make some good family memories.
Connector Beth 