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THANKSGIVING FAMILY STYLE

© Cindy Ovard

What do those three words mean to you? What comes to your mind? Don't think about it, just take the first few words that came to your mind and say them. Yell them if you'd like to.

Turkey, Tons of food, Cranberry sauce, Football, Lazy men, Lazy kids, Kitchen, Work, Slave Mom, Dirty dishes, Leftovers (again, and again, until you are sick of leftovers).

Ok, I don't want to make light of Thanksgiving and take away from the whole meaning of being thankful and grateful, but face it. Thanksgiving is hard work. You do it for your family and you do it because you love your family. Well, I take that back, you might not love the in-laws that are coming to dinner, but they must eat while they are at your house and you do want to show them that you can cook. You must let mother in law know that you can cook for her little boy and not just out of a can, even if you have been cooking for him for twenty some odd years! AND you must let your father in law know that even he can be one of the guys in your home while watching all the footballs games and other sporting events.
Thanksgiving is real work. It's more food than you prepare all year combined! Ok, not really combined, but it is more food than I normally prepare for any given meal.

I do want my children to have some good memories of Thanksgiving. Like the fond memories I have of growing up around this holiday time. I remember my mother in the kitchen days before the big day. I never gave a second thought to the bed roll I found in the pantry. I just assumed all mother's slept close to the kitchen during those days. My mother made those days so memorable for us. She'd show us just how she made her famous potato salad. I ate it every year up until I found out just what went into her potato salad. Those are the memories I hold dear!
Or about the time my sister decided to help mom in the kitchen and make our appetizer: Pumpkin soup. Ohhhh, yum! It smelled sooo good. We all scooped a big bowl out of the carved pumpkin she made it in. The first taste of the soup told us that we would NEVER have dear sister make it again! She was crushed that it hadn't worked until she too had a taste and let us throw it out! Those are the types of memories I'm talking about!

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