Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the day our thoughts about what we are thankful for seem to surface often.  I simply can't make a list of things I am thankful for because such a list would be impossibly long.   The things that float to the top of my list are totally situation dependent, so their place at the top are usually short lived.  So, with that in mind, I was thinking about what I am thankful for today...just today at about 11:00AM.  The feeling that surfaced was my thankfulness for traditions.  Tradition, tradition.... from Fiddler on the Roof....

On Thanksgiving, my family gathers around a succulent turkey with all of the trimmings, and eats way too much food.  I believe many families in this country have a very similar Thanksgiving tradition.  How you gather together makes your family tradition unique.  This year, will be my grandchildren's first Thanksgiving at grandma's house.  When I was growing up, we went to, my grandma's house for Thanksgiving every year.  When she passed away, we went to my kids' grandma's house,  and this year, for the first time ever, I am the grandma who will host Thanksgiving for my children and grandchildren.  Well, my husband Doug and I will host Thanksgiving.  Doug is the turkey cook.

Doug and I planned a menu for Thanksgiving dinner.  We decided what we would cook and what we would ask our kids and Doug's parents to bring.  We cleaned the house, bought the groceries, tested the drink recipe;) and did some prep and by last night, we figured we were ready.  At about 6:00pm I had a thought that made my blood run cold.  What would we eat on?  Plates, okay I have plates.  Silverware, ya, I have that too.  But this isn't just any meal, this is going to be a tradition.  My grandma had a complete set of china dishes and silver silverware.  She served the turkey on a silver platter and had crystal goblets, the whole nine yards.  My mother and my husband's mother learned how to serve a Thanksgiving meal from their mothers.  They had all the stuff too. What would I do?

Our table is brand new.  We bought a table that our growing family can all sit at comfortably.  After trying every tablecloth in my cupboard, I found that not one fits this table.  The placemats I had on the table would have been perfect but there were only 6 and I didn't have any of the fabric left so couldn't make more.  I did have some blueberry fabric left so ran downstairs and made three more placemats like the blueberry ones I had.  While I was making them I was thinking blueberries aren't very Thanksgivingy but oh well, it would have to do.  I had enough of the green fabric to cut into napkins and it's batik so I didn't have hem them.  Luckily, the Porsgrund stoneware dishes I received as wedding gifts in 1979 looked nice on the placemats so that was good.   My good silverware, Konge Tinn, Royal Pewter, and Mikasa wine and water goblets also wedding gifts in 1979 finished off the setting.  I decided this was good.  

My table doesn't look like my grandmother's table, or my mother's table.  The family tradition we are building for my grandchildren will contain the critical elements, the turkey and wonderful food, the family, the togetherness, the love, the important things.  I will think about the table setting for next year.  I have a complete set of my grandmother's fine gray, pink and white china, complete with all of the pink crystal water and wine glasses and dessert plates.  Maybe we will use that.  I better start looking for fabric for napkins and placemats now though.

Happy Thanksgiving!