Monday, November 24, 2008

Thanksgiving Traditions

I love Thanksgiving. It is, hands-down, my favorite holiday. I love everything about it. This year, I am blessed to be hosting the "event". I am further blessed to have my parents, Jon's parents and sister, and two families of dear friends joining us for dinner. (We will be 12 adults and 7 kids, ages 3-13!)
My family has always been VERY big on traditions. Some of them have been more enduring than others, but one that has ALWAYS been present at every Thanksgiving I can remember is the corn kernel tradition. My mom said she read about it in a Little House on the Prairie book when I was little. When we set the table, we put three kernels of corn next to each plate. At dinnertime, we go around the table and say three things we are thankful for.
My mom also has a tradition of early table-setting (sometimes 2 days before!). I will be able to continue that this year, as my friend Candy has offered her time (and her teenagers' babysitting time!) to come help me make my table beautiful. Those of you that know Candy know how awesome it will look! My mom dresses a gorgeous table, also. We were having a conversation recently about how much she loves it. It then turned to a conversation about how prepared she liked to be for things, as opposed to how a person we know flies by the seat of his pants. She said, "You know me, I'm the person who puts slips of paper in the serving dishes for Thanksgiving to designate which dish goes where. Mr. X is the kind of person that goes, 'Oh, hey, it's Thanksgiving! Let's go to Food Lion to see if I can find a turkey!'"
So tell me, what are you thankful for?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. Hal and I are serving fulltime in a church again.
2. Hal lets me fix some of the dishes that my family always fixed - even though there will only be the two of us at dinner this year.
3. Our daughter-in-law sends great email pics of our granddaughter and grandbaby-to-be.

ctf said...

I am thankful for friends. I don't make it home for Thanksgiving anymore but have never had to have it alone. This year I'll be with Chris and melody so maybe we'll do the corn kernel thing. :)