From all the childhood photos I have, this one on the left is the only Thanksgiving photo I can find. The across-the-street neighbors have come to celebrate with us. On Christmas Day, we went to their house for our holiday meal.
When we were first married, friends invited us to their home for Thanksgiving Dinner. The next year, I cooked and baked for the two of us.
A few years later, we went to David’s grandmother’s house, in Tennessee. We arrived a couple of days before the rest of David’s large family got there. When we walked into the house, Nanny (David’s grandmother) put me to work. I made pie crusts and filled them, I peeled potatoes, I baked yams, I never left the kitchen for the next three days.
In this charming photo of Nanny and her great-grandchildren, no one wants to have their picture taken. Except Kevin, who is smiling charmingly at the camera.
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- Some years, JoAnne and her family came. And I’m remembering when the built-in hutch was white.
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- A few years later, David’s niece came to visit for Thanksgiving. And, by then, I’d stripped the hutch.It was really pretty.
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- Another few years later, that niece’s sister came for the holiday, and we were living in the house where we live now. Must have been a nice Texas fall day, as the back door is open.
And a few years after that, we convinced David’s mother to come to Texas for Thanksgiving, because there were some great-grandchildren that she hadn’t met. Those two nieces (from those photos above) came with their husbands and their babies to Waco. It was a wonderful visit.
The holiday will be different for lots of folks this year. Often, coaches and sports teams will say, after a less that perfect season, “Just wait until next year. Things will be better.” I think most of us are counting on things being better. Much better.
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:5,b (New Revised Standard Version)
Let it be so.
Enjoyed the trip through the years! What special memories! Deedie