Happy Thanksgiving !
We're enjoying a quiet holiday today. My mom is visiting from Florida this week. The kids are hanging out around the house. It snowed this morning and we were able to watch the Thanksgiving Day parades on TV. Typically we travel to Richmond to visit my brother, but we thought is would be nice to stay home. Unfortunately Mike and family can't make it as they are home taking care of Mike's mother-in-law who is recovering from a stroke. It's a very different holiday this year, but we're having a quiet, peacful time.
I was thinking this morning of how different this Thanksgiving is compared to the Thanksgivings we had growing up. Typically we would go to my aunt's in Chicago with my grandparents. It was bustling with relatives. My mom's family is Irish and they all did their best to perpetuate the stereotypes of drinking and fighting. (arguing, no fisticuffs). The typical day would involve the older relatives sitting around the table with a bottle of Canadian Club whiskey and staying there until the bottle was finished. My mom didn't drink and was prone to complaining about the situation with the drinkers so mayhem was typically the main course of the day.
After dinner was over and we were ready to head home, it was up to my dad to carry my grandfather down the stairs to the car as he was one of the more voracious Canadian Club imbibers. All in all it was a fun time.
On the surface, this all sounds terrible, but this was our normal. We weren't scarred by the experience as this was all we knew. The memories I hold of those times were positive. The focus for me was spending time with relatives and enjoying great food. The kids all had fun and were quite surprised to discover as we got older that not all families celebrated holidays this way. As we had our own families, our traditions departed from the celebrating we knew as kids and adopted different traditions which involved less alcohol.
Here's hoping you have a great day and your traditions create great memories for years to come.
