I get pretty nostalgic over the holidays – is hard to have lived in 5 foster homes and not take a piece of each of their holiday traditions with me when I moved on. 

• With my parents, we usually spent Thanksgiving at my Gramma Hickey’s house.  She made one pie for each of us (five kids in our family) – except my youngest brother and I liked the same thing, so I always had to share with him!  We would say our grace and then Grandpa Hickey would put a piece of bread in the middle of his plate and PILE on everything else offered.  One big food pile.  Then, he’d eat it (and totally gross us kids out).  He said that it all ended up like that so you might as well eat it like that!
• In my first foster home, my foster dad had three unmarried siblings who lived on the family farm.  We went there the one Thanksgiving I lived with them – was fun for my foster sister and myself to run around on a farm, but boy those old people sure were stern and didn’t much like kids around!
• In my second foster home, I was only there a couple of months, so didn’t have Thanksgiving with them.
• In my third foster home, I believe we always went to a family reunion for my foster mother’s family over Thanksgiving.  Is hard to remember this one, as there was so much trauma and grieving after their daughter passed away.
• In my fourth foster home (my aunt and uncle who finished raising me), I think we may have gone to my aunt’s parent’s house for Thanksgiving.
• In my fifth foster home (not really a foster home, since I was over 18, but I still count it as one), we went out to a lovely restaurant for Thanksgiving each year!

For my own family, before we moved to my MIL’s property, Thanksgiving was MY holiday.  Sometimes my husband’s Grandmother would join us, but it was my time to cook and enjoy the smells and languishing in the kitchen just for my family.  The kids would be bustling around, the dad-person would be enjoying the family and I would get one last chance at a relaxed pace before the Christmas holiday began.

Now that we live down the hill from my MIL, we have Thanksgiving at her house.  We invite those who may need a place to go and, of course, our family and my SIL’s family come to eat our way through a long weekend! 

Personally, I also include my own traditions for the holiday weekend.  The first is that at some point, I sit and watch “The Homecoming” video.  This was the original pilot to “The Walton’s” with Patricia O’Neal – who has always reminded me of my mother.  And because of the vows I took to never sing Christmas songs until after Thanksgiving (ahem, at least in front of my husband), I make whoever can play a piano bust out the holiday songs and play me some Christmas tunes so I can sing at the top of my lungs!

I hope you remember your thanks this day, as well as your traditions.  They go hand-in-hand.

Happy Thanksgiving!