Thankfulness

I enjoy Thanksgiving.  As I was furiously cooking today I found myself, as I often do, reflecting on Thanksgivings past and on family long departed.  As I made the cranberry bread for in the morning I tried to remember when my mother first started making it; I think I was a teenager, but may have been a little older.  And, I'm making her cranberry meatballs for our main meal tomorrow. 

As I unpacked enough of the plates and serving dishes to serve the meal I found myself once again trying to remember the story of the Noritake dishes; did Daddy fly them back in the cargo hold of an empty plane or did one of his buddies?  Or did they order them through the base exchange while we were at Clark?  We never used them much, but I always enjoyed seeing them in the glass front china cabinet.

 



I had to remember with a smile the Thanksgivings that I traveled with husband and children to Mississippi to spend the holiday with my parents.  I loved those trips, Mississippi is so beautiful heading into the Christmas season and our visits were always memorable. Sometimes my sister and her family was there and sometimes not.  I had to laugh about the year when we finally sat down to eat our Thanksgiving meal and we all realized that Mama had forgotten to make gravy.  There were some nudges and whispers as we told the children not to say a word!

And then there was the Thanksgiving right before my mother passed away.  My sister and I arrived on Saturday, she fell and broke her hip on Sunday night, and on Wednesday we had moved her into a care facility.  I don't think she realized it was Thanksgiving on Thursday, although she did visit for a few minutes with a cousin that drove over from the other side of town to visit her.  I enjoyed chatting for quite a while with the cousin; I had never met her until a few years before.  We talked of their childhood and she shared stories I had never heard, including the story about my grandmother making a beautiful recital dress for my mother and she got to wear it, too because they were the same size (where my grandmother got the money for a recital dress is beyond me but she must have bargained for the fabric and trims). My sister and I ate turkey and dressing at Cracker Barrel after waiting for a table for over an hour.  We took home our desserts for later after another visit back to the care facility. Mama would pass away just a few days after we left.

Last Sunday my Sunday School class had  its annual Thanksgiving potluck lunch.  I look forward to this event as the food is wonderful.  We sit at tables of eight and it gives us a chance to visit. As we went through the line I noticed that the paper plates had a Thanksgiving theme and a Bible verse on them.  Imagine, a paper plate with a Bible verse!  It was Psalm 117:2, the truth of the Lord endures forever. I commented to the person in front of me and she agreed.  Then she read the verse aloud and made the comment, "That truly is something to be thankful for, isn't it."  I had to agree with her, but then it hit me that I had never thought of God's truthfulness as a blessing.  But it is and I've added it to my list of blessings to count. 

May your Thanksgiving be filled with blessings!