A Different Kind of Thanksgiving Slice of Life

Thanks to Two Writing Teachers for hosting Slice of Life Tuesday.  Please visit their site to read and comment on other slicers' posts.

This year will be a little different for us as we celebrate Thanksgiving.  In the past, we've always been surrounded by lots of family.  I grew up sitting at the kids' table in my grandmother's house with my  cousins and siblings.  It was never quiet...the day was always filled with laughter and raucous noise.  We joked about Grandma's jello salad (always red jello with cup up pears).  What WAS her secret recipe?   Pop was  in charge of mashing the potatoes.  There was something about his technique.  They were so delicious.  Grandma's stuffing was to die for.  She tore up bread 2 days before Thanksgiving and let it set out to get stale.  She added eggs, sage, butter, broth, celery, and onion.  A little taste, a few shakes of salt and pepper, another taste, until she deemed it perfect.  And perfect it was.  I still make her recipe and remember her as I toss the ingredients together.  Pop always got the gizzards and one of the drumsticks (he was first to be served, being the patriarch of the family). The cousins, John and Doug, were in charge of cleaning the roaster.  My sisters and I taunted them, glad to not have that nasty job.  Being girls, we were stationed upstairs helping the women clean up the huge mess.  The evening ended with the rest of the family piling into Grandma's house for dessert.

I love being surrounded by family on the holidays.  It was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, eating dinner with our landlord in Virginia that made me realize that I didn't want to live so far away from our family in Ohio.  As soon as the school year ended, we packed up and moved to Columbus, smack dab in the middle of Ohio between our two sets of parents.  Since then, my table has overflowed with friends and family.

A gift from one of my students...I'm sure it will be gone before we get to the big day.  

This year, though is different.  It will just be the my husband and me with the three kids .  Will I miss the confusion?  I'm not sure.  However, we decided that this is the year to take a break; take a breather, and focus on our little family.  I'm waiting anxiously for my two older ones to arrive home amidst the spitting snow outside.  They will take over my kitchen...Zach is the bread baker, the girls will be making cheesecakes.  (Yes, that was a plural...cheesecakes for 5 people).  I will be in heaven working in the kitchen alongside my kids.  The house will be filled with the divine smells of Thanksgiving, the joking and laughter of my kids who are best of friends, and lots of leftovers.  (I mean really, how much cheesecake can you eat in one day?).

Next year, I'm sure we'll be back to hosting the grand holiday again.  For now, though, I'm going to savor this time together and enjoy being with my little family.

How will you be spending the holidays?