THANKSGIVING .......I sit in my warm home thinking of what I will be doing THANKSGIVING DAY. My family once had a huge gathering filled with family & friends. It was a day that we all waited anxiously for my Grandmother Lovies delicious and unique homemade brunswick stew. The old home place would be filled with laughter and the retelling of family stories that we kids could not wait to hear for the one hundredth time. My grandmother lived in a little mill village house with a yard the size of a napkin. It was HOME to all of us , family & friend. That little mill village house held so many wonderful memories that we were all proud to be a part of. Looking back today I remember thinking that THANKSGIVING DAY would always be the same and that it would go on generation after generation just as it had for all of us. Life is like getting that last piece of pumpkin pie,you just never know who that lucky one will be. I do know this.....my Grandmother and Great Aunt Bea were all about family and holiday traditions. Their cupboards were not always full nor their fridge over flowing , yet they could fill their table with food made out of love and joy. No one was ever turned away from their table and it was a given that there was a chair for anyone wanting to join us at our Thanksgiving table of BLESSINGS. I moved away from home years ago after my treasured Grandmother Lovie passed, way too young. Our family continued our traditions but with one empty chair. Grandmother Lovies secret recipe brunswick stew continued to be made with love by a new generation. Over the years new babies came to join us at the table as our elders began to pass away. Slowly the family grew smaller with each passing and we tried desperately to hold on to our THANKSGIVING traditions. The day finally came when the families old mill village house was sold and Great Aunt Bea moved into a retirement home. How could THANKSGIVING ever be the same ? That old house held all of our memories and the aroma of so many THANKSGIVING meals past. Would everyone still come together as a family ?What about all of the old neighborhood friends ? Could we the new generation carry on these wonderful traditions ?Could we tell the same stories over and over again to the children? Sadly,as the years have passed so has the wonderful THANKSGIVING traditions from that little mill village house.Some moved far away,others decided to have their own without including everyone,some decided eating out was easier and others just stopped celebrating THANKSGIVING at all. I watched as our family separated into groups and long revered traditions vanish into a competition. I remember the first THANKSGIVING I missed when I lived in Florida. My mom and I celebrated in our own way by laughing and crying as we retold the old family stories. We spoke of grandmother Lovies special homemade brunswick stew and how we missed walking into the front door of her home and smelling its delicious aroma. Years later as I live away from my home town and so many wonderful THANKSGIVING memories I try my best to carry on my families THANKSGIVING traditions in my own way. I enjoy cooking a traditional meal and serving it to my new family wherever I might be. There is always a chair waiting and now I cook for those without a place to go for THANKSGIVING. I have no children to leave my family traditions to yet I feel our tradition will continue.I share our retold stories over and over with my THANKSGIVING family. I tell them of Gods many blessings as I rejoice in their own family stories and traditions. I have learned that the old mill village house was a place of love and family, a place that our traditions were created in. I have learned that family traditions can carry on where their is love and family. Now if I could only learn to make grandmother Lovies special homemade brunswick stew just like she did.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 19:33:18 +0000