When I was a child, I always looked forward to Thanksgiving. Mom would cook and the whole house would smell like turkey-basted cinnamon rolls. We would get into the station wagon and drive several hours to the Pawnee city park center--an old, rectangular, native rock building that could hold the 100 or so cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.
Long tables would run the length of the room and literally be covered with every possible food dish--all from scratch gardens on their huge farms- homemade noodles, fresh rolls, tender, corn-fed beef roasts and desserts we could never, ever eat in a day. My Grandmother could make the best Red Velvet Cake I've never been able to duplicate (winning the state fair for her baking and roses) and my Mother's peach cobbler to this day is perfection with the cinnamony sugar flaky crust and fresh peaches oozing with juicy sweetness.
It was an opportunity to see long lost cousins, share stories and realize what it must have been like growing up in these very, large families during the early days of electricity and motorcars. My Grandmother had 11 siblings. I can't imagine feeding and caring for so many children but of course, they did. Families worked, played and stayed together through hard times and abundance, rich or poor, droughts and floods. They depended on each other. They counted on each other to be there. Men went to war, women ran households and children had responsibilities. The family was key to happiness, love and security.
As I sit here today recalling those sweet, innocent days gone by, it seems we have lost the 'spirit' of communing with family. Our lives have gotten so chaotic and electronic, generations now text or tweet their emotions. When did we lose the joy of visiting in person? When did family become second to schedules, church, sports or sheer fatigue from all our 'priorities'? Our lives are shadowed by the threat of terrorism, unemployment and a constant barage of media-driven information our brains cannot process. How do we recover a simpler life?
Today, I will long for the joys of past Thanksgivings. I will hold close those memories and hope that someday they will renew themselves.
We all have those memories, just like our children have memories of our holidays. Our children are making their own memories now, and all we can do is tell them our memories so they can add them to the ones they remember. And hopefully pass them on to their children! Love you
ReplyDelete