Thanksgiving

I think that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday now...interesting because I used to hate it. When I was a teen, Thanksgiving meant going to my grandparents' house. My grandfather would criticize everyone, scold, and generally be mean. My grandmother believes that anything you cook should come from a box or a can, so the only things that were fresh and homemade were the turkey and the fruit salad. My grandma makes a mean fruit salad, and mostly that's what I lived off of. Her turkey was SO dry, your teeth would stick together trying to chew it. The bones of the turkey would fall apart. I kid you not. The yams came from a can, with yucky marshmallows on top. The gravy was from a packet (beef) to go on the potatoes, from a box. You get the picture. The food was bad. The atmosphere was tense, what with the criticism and all. Then add the fact that most of my family is on a never ending diet, so there's guilt involved in eating anything at all, and tons of guilt involved in the kind of meal that we have on Thanksgiving.

Now, however, I'm grown. We have Thanksgiving at my in-law's house. The house is always decorated and happy. There is music and laughter. Everyone brings a few things, so it's a group effort, and not one person doing all of the work to feed 12 people. The food is delicious. We all make our favorites, and we talk about the things that make us feel truly thankful. One of mine is my in-laws. :)