The local Starbucks coffee shop changes with the seasons. New mugs, new coffee packaging, new displays. And of course, decorations…
Yesterday Christmas decorations went in as my hubby and I sat reading, over coffee. Snow-frosted pine garlands crossed over the tops of shelves and poked their message of good cheer in and out of everywhere. Today the special Christmas coffee blend is promised.
Well, that’s all good. I love Christmas, and I really do like special coffees at holiday times.
But what about Thanksgiving?
When I was a little girl, my mom’s mom always — without fail — hosted Thanksgiving Day.
Grandma’s door opened from the front porch into a corner of her dining room, the living room just to the right through a wide opening.
Normally there were three mismatched wooden rocking chairs in the center of the dining room. The table sat against a large bay window with white lace curtains, and a breakfront was built into the wall facing the door, leaving plenty of space for the chairs, placed for visiting and easy conversation.
But not on Thanksgiving Thursday…
On Thanksgiving, the rockers disappeared, and the living room furniture got pushed tight against the walls. Folding tables filled the center spaces, with chairs enough to seat 24 of us. Both the breakfront and the dining table, pulled out to its limits, held plates and utensils and all the food you could imagine. Pies and whipped cream were on the kitchen table at the back of the house.
Warm mixed-aromas spilled out onto the porch the moment we opened the front door.
WELCOME, they spoke. Welcome to family and fun, good food, loving environment, and stability.
Sisters, cousins, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles… We all gathered at Grandma’s for Thanksgiving.
I don’t know who did all the work. This tradition continued until I was married and beyond — well past the year of my granddad’s passing. I never paid attention to who brought food, who may have helped move the furniture or where the tables and chairs came from. Not even who cleaned it all up after we left.
I only remember the whole package of Thanksgiving as warm, loving, yummy, and safe. Much to be thankful for.
I loved it. 
And I don’t want to rush past it, this year or any year. It’s a celebration day in our home. I’m now the gramma who hosts the day. Folding tables and all. My girls all bring their favorite dishes, one son-in-law roasts the turkey, my husband makes the honey butter to go on the baked yams. I make whatever isn’t otherwise being brought.
Our food is pretty traditional. Everyone who has a special dish request gets it — year in and year out.
For me, the Christmas season begins immediately after, when the dishes are done…
What about your traditions? Do you like rushing through the seasons? I understand the concept from a marketing standpoint. But still…
Help yourself to coffee — even the Christmas blend is available.
Barb
P.S. Thank you Barbara Swafford and Davina for getting me out of my journal back to the blog. For making me take some time to think about my own responses to life. That is, after all, what OverCoffeeBlog is about.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Hear Hear!!! So THANKFUL that you are showing your children and grandchildren the meaning of this great holiday — NOT just for tradition’s sake…but because of the meaning for our relationships and our lives.
One dear sister hosts Thanksgiving each year, and I see that continuing at least throughout my parents’ lives. At times we have each given thanks (before the food is served
for something in our lives — a GREAT teaching tool for young and old to know gratitude in our very selfish culture.
Lastly, our church’s Thanksgiving service is one of those special ones — a length of time is given for sharing something we are thankful for — can you imagine…in a full year of life, the sorrows, joys to share to our Lord…
Here’s wishing you and your family the greatest Thanksgiving Day!
Thank you so much for your beautiful story, Sharon. We did the same with our kids when they were growing up… and have turned that into (hopefully) lives that look for blessings. Yes, it’s very easy today to be selfish. The more years we have though, I think the easier it is to count the good in our lives. To look for it even. Our church has something similar — and they do it several times a year. Meet and share “praises” or what each is thankful for. Not a bad habit to have…
We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving, thank you, and Christmas as well. I hope and trust yours were too.
So good to read your posts again!
Christmas season starts the day AFTER Thanksgiving. End of discussion.
One Thankgiving I will never foget – my aunt’s last Thanksgiving, and in fact, her last holiday. We had all become pretty scattered by that time, but almost all of us gathered at Mom’s that year. Hubby & I took Mom to a local turkey farm to get a fresh turkey. The smallest they had was over 30 pounds! Bill had to do all the lifting, the rest of us sat around and laughed at that monster. But, when the weekend was over, we had no leftovers, the whole turkey had been eaten. It was a time of love and caring, and a chance for all of us (3 generations at that time) to say goodbye.
We had a couple traditional foods that year, as we always do. My sister has a recipe for a corn pudding that comes from her husband’s grandmother. After the first time she made it for us, it became a tradition. The kids love to help make it, even the little ones.
Our other traditional food? One year, the teacher asked what traditional foods does your family have for Thanksgiving? My daughter immediately answered, birthday cake! She, and her little cousin, were both born on Thanksgiving Day, and we have two other birthdays within a week of Thanksgiving. So, we have birthday cake, and are thankful for our loved ones.
And we don’t even think about Christmas music or decorations until after Thanksgiving.
BTW, we still keep Advent – to prepare for Christmas. Then, we celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas big time!
Oh wow — what a beautiful story! Even though you all said goodbye to your aunt, it’s hardly a sad tale. I know I’d have been in heaven early, with my family around, celebrating, a 30-pound turkey — all of which was eaten! — corn pudding and several birthdays added to the festivities. No, there’s no time for Christmas until Christmas! And this year we had plenty of time for music and lights and love. After Thanksgiving.
Thanks so much for sharing, Patricia.
I’ve missed you. Welcome back.
Thank you Karol. I’ll be seeing you in class soon…
Hi Barb,
Mmmmm. Your memories of Thanksgiving sound similar to mine. It was always a day spent at Grandma’s with all the relatives and us cousins having fun playing, spending the day together and after dinner, doing the dishes. Oh, those are wonderful memories.
For us, our Thanksgiving has some traditions however it’s quieter than those from my past. We love it as it remains a family day where love abounds and the scents coming from the kitchen are scrumptious.
Christmas waits until after Thanksgiving even though the stores push Christmas so early these days.
Thank you for the mention. It’s great to see you blogging again.
Hi Barbara. Thanks for the beautiful picture of your Thanksgivings. Sounds so very familiar. I hope, and expect that, your Christmas was just as warm and loving.
I read you account of your grandma’s Thanksgiving with great pleasure. It reminds me of the Christmas cheer in Charles Dickens’ novels. As you know, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving Day in England, though we do have a Harvest Festival in the churches — but I hope your celebrations go well!
Thanks Valerie. Our Thanksgiving did go well — as did Christmas. I suppose my childhood Thanksgivings were a bit like Dickens’. If I were to dig out some old black and white photos, you’d think so even more. Here we do the Harvest parties at the end of October — just after the Harvest. Though that’s what Thanksgiving is about, really. The bounty of the harvest after so much work…
And being thankful for it. Read Anita’s poem above (the link is in my comment back to her) and get a chuckle.
Hi Barb, loved reading your blog and going to reread it again. Always so interesting and just enjoyable. Have a great Thanksgiving young lady.
Thank you so much, Annette. It’s mutual, you know — I like yours too.
Beautiful walk through. You paint perfect scenes with words.
The funny thing is, for me, one of my traditions is each holiday there are certain things I need to watch. For example, on Thanksgiving, I need to watch King Kong (it used to be the Wizard of Oz, too.) For Christmas, I need to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph.
Hi J.D. Thank you. When my kids were little, we watched the Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I’m afraid at Thanksgiving, though, it was all football. My dad was a coach, my husband an athlete, my kids and their husbands all athletes. So, Thanksgiving and football went — go — together like New Year’s Day and the Rose Bowl. To be fair, I had girls, and King Kong just wasn’t part of our traditions. But I love seeing that you’re keeping to yours!
Hi Barb,
So glad to see you got your blog up again. Looks wonderful and I enjoyed your post about Thanksgiving.
Hi Kendra. Yes, that was a nightmare for a few days — completely out of my control. I thank Bean Fairbanks for helping me boot the hacker out. I’m glad to have my blog back. Thank you for visiting and leaving your wonderful comment…
I remember Thanksgivings like that. I have a harder time enjoying the holidays than I used to but this made me remember how my brother would always read “When Father Carves the Duck” while my dad carved the turkey
We all look on with anxious eyes
When father carves the duck,
And mother almost always sighs
When father carves the duck…
Anita
Hi Anita. I looked up the poem, found the whole thing here. What fun! I’m thinking you ahd as much fun then as our family did — and does.