November 24th ~ Gobble Gobble putt putt

I love Thanksgiving.

It has always been one of my favorite holidays.

The gathering together of family for a traditional meal brings back memories of my childhood and mixes with the traditions we are trying to pass on to our own children.

I woke up this morning thinking of the many Thanksgivings I spent as a kid with my family at my paternal grandparent's house. My grandfather passed away a couple of years ago. My grandmother passed away at the beginning of this year. I found myself really missing both of them today.

They weren't easy people. But they were characters and lovable in their own unique ways.

Our Thanksgiving trip to Grandma's house was like a trip to the country. They thought of us as "city people". The small town they lived in always smelled of burning leaves at this time of year....a smell I love to this day. Their house was always a little too hot and had a little too much dog hair on the couch, but it was welcoming and smelled of almond press cookies and roasting turkey and bacon.

My grandfather was missing some fingers from a machine accident when he was a young man. He loved to eat what he called "The Pope's Nose" (aka the tailbone) of the turkey. After the entire family participated in saying a sweet, sometimes emotional, always touching, prayer of thanks ~ we could looked to the head of the table and see my grandfather enjoying the "Pope's Nose". His finger nubs covered with grease, turkey butt in his mouth, false teeth barely fitting, he'd begin his annual retelling of "God DAMN Black and Decker!" Suddenly we felt like "city people". lol

Apparently, Black and Decker didn't send him a rebate on a power tool many, many, years ago. He carried the grudge to his grave. Although, I think that the annual retelling of that story may have been for our benefit more than a true grudge he held. We would all get hysterical with laughter at his tirade.

I miss him.

My grandmother was one of those people who would say whatever was on her mind. "Wow you sure have gotten fat, havent you?" And she could never remember the names of our spouses when we grandkids got married. But she was full of life. She loved to swim and go places and do things and she was wild for my Mom's macaroni salad. Grandma was still getting in her car and driving the 4 hours to visit us into her 80's. She had a remarkable zest for life.

When visiting us, Grandma would sit down to eat and proclaim "Num Num Num Num!" loudly before digging into her meal. Her false teeth weren't a good fit either...so between the "Num num nums" and the teeth clacking, it was hard to not get the giggles.

I miss her too, especially today.

As kids, a big tradition after the Thanksgiving meal was to go on a "fart walk." We'd walk, laugh and "rip 'em"...trying to outdo each other. Tonight we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my side of the family. We all gathered at my brother's house. After dinner the dads took all of the kids on a "fart walk". My brother's house was so peaceful with all of our kids gone! The adults who stayed cleaned up the dishes and talked. I finally realized why we'd gone on fart walks as kids! It got all of us loud, active, children out of Grandma's house for a little while so the adults could enjoy a moment of peacfulness. lol


Happy Thanksgiving :)