Thanksgiving

This year I was blessed to become Babushka (grandmaw) to an amazing little girl who has stolen my heart. With her birth and the holiday season upon us, it made me think back to my own grandmothers. It is sad how often we overlook the blessings in the midst of the moment. At times it seemed like a frustration, to run around from place to place, rather than the privilege it truly was.

Due to jobs and other circumstances, it will be far and few between for our table to be full on Thanksgiving, but that doesn't mean that my heart can't be full of thanksgiving for all of the marvelous blessings the Lord has and does give to us every day.

From the archives.....

When I was young, Thanksgiving looked a lot different than it does today. As I recall, my family would pack up and head out to my grandparents’ houses which was about an hour away. We kids would spend time at one grandparent’s house from around lunchtime till mid-afternoon and then we would travel over to our other grandparent’s house till late in the evening before heading back home.

While we shared Thanksgiving Day with family, each location was completely different. The first stop consisted of just us and our grandparents. It was rather peaceful and relaxed. Even though there weren’t many of us, there was always enough food to feed an army. One thing you could always count on was getting squeezed to the point of almost passing out by my grandmother. She would snatch each of us up, hold us tight, and sway back and forth as she declared how much she missed us and loved us.

I enjoyed sitting with her in the kitchen as she finished cooking. This allowed me to be the tester for when all the food was done. Yum! We all gathered around the table said blessing and then enjoyed a nice dinner. One plate of food was never enough in my grandmother’s eyes so, we were always required to eat at least two plates. We would take a few deep breaths and then she would pull out a cake or two and insist on us having a slice before we had to leave.

Only an hour or so later, we would head down the street to see our other grandparents. This house was a little different…. let’s just say the last time I attempted to count there were 13 grandkids, 18 great-grandkids, and well who knows how many great, great-grandkids that were all attempting to gather in a small dwelling. There was barely room to stand as you made a plate, but we ate everywhere - sitting outside on the steps, back of the car, or wherever you could find a surface. It was loud and crowded and full of people who loved my grandmother. I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow there was always more than enough food for everyone to have a plate or two if they wanted it.

I will never forget that, out of all those people, my grandmother would find my siblings and me because she wanted to make sure we ate at her house, not just at our other grandmothers’. (I’m laughing as I type this because I can remember getting the speech that we needed to make sure we ate at both places to not hurt anyone’s feelings.)

Well, needless to say, time can change things….my grandparents are no longer here on this earth and we no longer travel to meet up with family. Since their passing, Thanksgiving has looked a little different with every passing year. Some years, I get the privilege of being surrounded by family and friends while other years, I get to have a nice quiet Thanksgiving with only my husband.

If you are trying to figure out the point of me sharing all this, here it is, regardless of what my Thanksgiving looks like, I am still thankful for what I have and have been able to have in my life.

As life changes and we remember the celebrations of years gone by, we can become sad that we don’t have those experiences any more. We can forget that we were blessed to have those times and that we are blessed to have memories. Just because it looks different and the number of chairs may be less, it doesn’t mean that we can’t also choose to be grateful for how we celebrate now.

I didn’t appreciate those long suffocating hugs I got from my grandmother then, but I sure would like one today. I didn’t understand how being able to cook for all of us crazies, was a blessing to my other grandmother, so it wasn’t about us eating as it was about allowing her to love on us. So, I should have just eaten, even if I wasn’t hungry.

So this year, regardless of what your day may look like…..whether there will be many or few, a large meal or peanut butter sandwiches, a table to sit around, or just a spot on the lawn….take it all in. Enjoy the little moments! Don’t get caught up in everything being perfect or on all the things that you don’t have anymore but rather choose to soak up what you do have, the blessing of another day!!

From all of us here at Finding the MORE Ministries…. Happy Thanksgiving!!!