“The oak trees were alive with color in the midst of the evergreens. Bright red and yellow leaves catching the sunlight as Daddy and I walked through the brush. The smell of the pines was fresh and all around us. We didn’t speak, but this was when I felt most connected to my father. Nature was a bond that united us and the gift that he gave me. And not just in those East Texas woods. He envisioned the whole earth as my territory and set me on my path to discovery. In 1958, this was remarkable in a girl’s father…
To this day, Thanksgiving remains my favorite holiday. It seems less commercial than the others and struggles to hold its own before the onslaught of merchandising that we call Christmas. The dinners in the fancy restaurants and hotels and cafeterias never measure up to the feasts my grandmothers served their families.
Perhaps, though, it is the love and closeness of those family ties that leave the sights and sounds that last a lifetime.”
This excerpt from the chapter Thanksgiving in the Piney Woods is from my first book Deep in the Heart: A Memoir of Love and Longing. I was so surprised when the book received a 2008 GCLS Literary Award – and thrilled, too.
my family on my grandparents’ front steps circa 1956
(I am seated on the bottom row in my flannel shirt and corduroy pants,
unsmiling, at my mother’s request for some strange reason)
Today is a different Thanksgiving in a different home in a different state in a different century, but I still believe in the love and closeness of family ties that bring the sights and sounds that last a lifetime. I know they have in my lifetime.
And now for Thanksgiving in 2019 we are beyond Thunder Dome thankful for the new family member we love to hold and hope she looks our way with smiles. Pretty is beside herself with our granddaughter Ella Elisabeth James, and so am I.
Ella loves her NanaT
Pretty and I wish all of you in cyberspace that love and closeness on this special day for thanksgiving.
Stay tuned.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
Comments
14 responses to “thanksgiving is relative”
Hope you had a wonderful holiday 🙂 What a lovely piece of writing – makes it easy for me to transport myself there and join you! And I agree – there’s something nice about the quiet of Thanksgiving before the big Christmas rush!
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Thank you so much for joining me! And now…Christmas…sigh.
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What a beautiful nostalgic post. And I love that cute pic of you and T!
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I knew you would like this one, Luanne, and thanks for reading. That is also one of my favorite pictures of T and me…what a fun weekend that was with friends at a SC beach…
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Sheila,
I hope you and yours had a wonderful day of Thanks, and good food and good times!
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Thank you, Bob – we really did have a good day – and I hope the same for you and Carlos and your family!
P.S. Still enjoying leftovers today!! 🙂
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I am making the ever popular corn pudding for my family feast, with dogs crowding around my ankles and knees. Circumstances change, but somehow we gather who we may and celebrate our blessed lives once again.I
Happy Thanksgiving to my favorite family in South Carolina!
Love,
Ann, Poppy, Cassie Potatoes, HRH Ludovico, Francine and Doctor Zeus (always almighty)
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I love corn pudding, Ann. Much love to you and yours from both the Williams sisters and Sheila.
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Pretty loves all things made with corn, Ann, so your corn pudding would be a real treat!! Instead, she’ll make her own version of fresh corn off the cob cooked on the stove top in a big old frying pan…also yummy, yummy, yummy…
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Teresa, it gave me a fight today. It almost didn’t set up. Pudding rallied in the end and was declared the best ever. Of course that’s the annual compliment. I guess all is right with the world!!
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Yummy, yummy, yummy – your family feasts always sound delicious!! Our love and kisses to all of our favorite family members in Pennsylvania!!
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Corn is one food I can’t live without. I will have to try it fried… After my stomach deflates from today’s feast!!
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Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Family.
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Thank you so very much, Annie…holiday hugs from across the pond!
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