By Mary Hasselwander, Editor
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. That statement may surprise some of you who know how I love to decorate for Christmas, but it is true.
These days, it seems that Thanksgiving is just the day before the Christmas shopping season officially kicks off, but for me it has always had a special meaning. There are no presents to buy, cards to write, parties to plan and/or attend or other activities that often distract from the celebration of the holiday itself.
Thanksgiving has a simple focus: friends and family coming together to share a meal and give thanks for all their blessings. For many it involves a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Thinking about this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, I look back and see, just in our family, the evolution of traditions that continue to move forward with each generation.
I came from a family of 10, so cooking a Thanksgiving dinner was a major undertaking and, as we got older, we all had to help with the preparations. One thing I remember was that there was always plenty of chopping and dicing to be done to prepare the stuffing. There were no pre-packaged foods. If you needed 20 lbs of potatoes, they had to be peeled! Baking for the holiday was spread over the weeks before the big dinner, ensuring there would be plenty of desserts.
When I started my own family, I brought the traditions from my childhood. As my children got a little older, they wanted to participate in the preparation—especially when it came to the stuffing. Let’s face it; there is something special about putting your hands in a bowl of mushy stuffing and mixing it around. Of course, this meant I had to make sure all four of them scrubbed their hands and did not touch anything on the way to the mixing bowl.
There were a few little mishaps. My older daughter felt the stuffing needed more pepper and decided to open the top of the shaker so it would go faster. You get the picture. Another year, my younger son put one of his little metal trucks into the bowl. I almost missed it when I was stuffing the turkey, but a little flash of blue metallic paint caught my eye at the last minute.
A few years back, my two year old grandson and four year old granddaughter donned little aprons and, with some assistance from my older granddaughter, helped mix stuffing and put it in the turkey. When I look at the picture of the three of them proudly posing with the bird, I realize that this is what Thanksgiving is all about and how blessed I really am.
I wish for all of you a Thanksgiving celebration that is joyous and filled with the love and laughter of friends, family and all you hold dear.
