THANKSGIVING MEMORIES...by Linda Newton

Thanksgiving is always a bittersweet time for me. Mixed in with the memories of family get-togethers of fifty-plus years is the year my father died at Thanksgiving. And it’s also my oldest son’s birthday, which falls exactly on Thanksgiving Day again this year. Over the years the transitions in our lives often necessitate changes in our rituals and traditions.

Childhood memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas include my Uncle Bud, Aunt Loucille, cousins John, Jean and Joe, grandparents Popeye and Bebe and my own brother and parents. My aunt and uncle always made dinner and brought it to my grandparents’ home in Grapevine from their home in Richland Hills. There was no “over the meadow and through the woods” for me. We lived right next door on the farm so we’d get up and go out and play until my cousins arrived. Then we’d eat (little kids at a separate table of course), nap, argue a little about whether or not to leave the food out until supper, and then finally eat some more. That was my Thanksgiving tradition from birth through my teen-age years. Of course us kids would wander around over the 100-acre farm playing all sorts of make-believe games while our parents did all the work.

My grandmother went into the nursing home when I was in junior high, but we continued the same rituals until my grandfather passed away my senior year. After that we went through several awkward years where we had our own little meal with just my immediate family. Of course we’d never done the cooking before so that was a learning experience. After a few years of marriages and moves, we added more people and once again we had a large gathering with multiple generations present, broken only once during my father’s hospitalization in 1984. I took over the hostessing and cooking duties when it became too difficult for my mother. After about two decades of that we had another transition due to children growing up and marriages breaking up, which put us back to our small group of just my brother, Mother and myself again for a few years. This year I’m having my husband’s family up (we alternate years now) so I’ll have a full house again.

Sometimes it seems we tend to lose Thanksgiving. It just gets crammed in somewhere between Halloween and Christmas. We’re used to seeing Christmas decorations in the stores early, and this year I’ve already seen lights up on houses. We hear a lot about losing the true meaning of Christmas due to merchandising and commercialism, but many of us also seem to have lost the meaning of Thanksgiving as well. When we’re little we study about the pilgrims and the Mayflower and trace our hand to draw turkeys, but as we get older it sometimes just becomes the day before the biggest shopping day of the year. That’s a day, by the way, when I won’t go near a shopping center. I learned that lesson over twenty years ago. For someone who grew up shopping for Christmas on Main Street in Grapevine, spending two hours trying to get out of a parking lot is not my idea of celebrating.

This year more than ever I’m reflecting on what I have to be thankful for. I think most of us are, or should be. We keep hearing about how the world as we knew it has changed forever. Maybe it has, but our attitude and outlook about such things is something we still control. I’m grateful for the freedoms we have that people like my father fought to protect. I’m grateful for the way I was raised, and for all the people who have positively influenced my life, both friends and family.

I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given in my life, and for the people who sacrificed in order for me to have them.

I’m thankful that although man might judge and condemn me for my failures and mistakes, my God will forgive and say “what sin?” I’m also thankful for the freedom that forgiving others brings. And for the teaching and wisdom that others have shared with me. I’m thankful for the love and acceptance of my family, both biological and “in law” that transcends the beginnings and endings of relationships. I’m thankful for the blessings of life-long friendships and the support and encouragement that they offer.

I’m thankful for material and physical blessings, for good health and the good fortune to live in the most wonderful country in the world. I’m thankful for godly leaders and for men and women who risk their lives to serve others. I’m thankful that for every fearful, selfish person in the world, there are two more who look for ways to make things better for others.

But most of all, in a world where so many seem to have lost hope, I am grateful that we don’t have to lose hope. I am grateful that I do not have to succeed in my own power, and that I do not have to fight my battles alone. I can stand on the promise in Jeremiah 29:11 where it says “’For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” And I know that I can believe that and trust in it. And that I have hope and a future.

May God richly bless you this Thanksgiving, and may you learn to count your blessings, too.

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