Memorable Thanksgivings
Next Thursday, November 22, is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. Through the years Thanksgiving Day has been my favorite holiday. It's the familytime, the food, the football, and Autumn. That combination is hard to beat.
A lot of the luster has vanished since Edna Mae died. On three of our four Thanksgivings since then Meagan and I have eaten alone, twice in fast food places.
But hope springs eternal and so do memories. I'd like to recall with you some of my Thanksgivings of former years. For me they bring warm thoughts and even a few smiles.
The Thanksgivings that I remember were not all that traditional. There was one where Edna Mae was not with us. She had flown to New York City to be with Nathan so he wouldn't be alone on Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful trip for her and she talked for years about Central Park, the Macy's parade, and the tall buildings and quiet streets of that big metropolis. Her joy blessed us all.
As a boy I remember my parents inviting college students to come to our home. Most of them were from Idaho and Montana where we often spent vacation time in the summer. The Thanksgiving holiday didn't allow students to get all the way home and back, so we invited them to our house. There were usually a dozen, at least, and there was lots of celebration and laughter. We played flag football in the afternoon and thought we could have beaten the Kennedys.
Then there was the time when my father took his Boy Scout troop to Rattler, Texas. Down on the river, below cousin Billy Hale's place, we spent a few days living off the land. It was to be a "survival hike" for a merit badge. Frankly, we not only got hungry, but a bit desperate. There was a stew made up of weed greens and roots, with a little frog thrown in. On Thanksgiving Day itself we had fried armadillo. But the worst thing was the raccoon that we roasted. We had found it lying dead on a trail, and didn't know how it had died. But it was still warm, so we roasted it and attempted to eat it. A bite or two was enough for most of us. We decided that some things were worse than hunger. The armadillo was pretty good. Tasted like chicken.
When Edna Mae and I were the young preacher and wife at Star, Texas our friend Avery Poe told us he would give us our turkey for Thanksgiving. Avery raised turkeys by the hundreds (or thousands) for Thanksgiving sale. A couple of days before the holiday when we went out to his ranch to get it, he told us we would have to catch it! In loading turkeys to ship off to market three had escaped and were now running wild on his lower pasture. We spotted the turkeys, they were white, and began chasing the biggest and slowest one. I think we chased it for an hour before it collapsed exhausted. I killed it and dressed it. It weighed over 40 pounds dressed! My mother was going to roast it, but it was so big it wouldn't fit in the oven. So we had to have some fellow who owned a Barbecue pit roast it for us. The turkey lasted for days and days and the story has lasted through the years.
There were many Thanksgivings with our dear friends, George and Christa Winegeart and all our children. At first we all cooked together. But as the years passed we started eating out at nice restaurants so the wives wouldn't have to do so much work. Christa and Edna Mae would always get us up from the couches and away from the TV to take a leisurely walk in the afternoon.
And as long as we've had TV, we've watched the Macy's parade in the A.M. Sitting in robe and slippers, watching that bit of fantasy, while the turkey is roasting in the oven, gave the term "holiday" true meaning.
One Thanksgiving, while a student at Texas Christian University, I drove with a friend to Nebraska to see friends that I had met there while attending York College. I had learned to love Nebraska at Thanksgiving time. Cold mornings, autumn colors, pheasants crowing. . . all added to my Thanksgiving mystique. But on this particular year, there was an early storm and we actually got snowed in before we got to the town where we were headed. We had been invited to spend the holiday with the Andersons at Wauneta NE, but we only got as far as Minden NE. We got snowed in there and had to stay for four days in a motel. Local German families took us in for meals and we got to meet some very special people. Minden calls itself the "Christmas City of the World" and the Christmas lights were even more spectacular with the town blanketed in two feet of snow.
A couple of times I have worked in soup kitchens on Thanksgiving. That brings warmth to the heart.
And a few times, when my kids were small, we've gone to Dallas Cowboy football games. Once we stood in line in a cafeteria with my college classmate and Cowboy great, Bob Lilly.
Well, this is memory enough. I feel warm and stuffed. Thanks for listening. I hope you have your own good memories and that you'll have an extra-special Thanksgiving this year.
Meagan and I actually have no Thanksgiving plans this year. First time ever. The last couple of years there were big plans that didn't pan out. It was disappointing enough that I decided to simply make no plans this year. But I'm sure it will be a good day.
I'll have plenty of good memories. That's for sure!
