Before you knew it, the turkey was being carved and everyone scrambled for a place to sit. Usually the kids ate in the adjoining rooms while most adults ate in the dinning room with Grandpa at the head of the table. Obviously, the food was like no other, because we all know you can�t beat a home cooked Thanksgiving meal.
Finally, when everyone had enough to eat, the tables were cleared; the women took care of the leftovers and soon sat back down around the dinning room table to share stories with each other and to catch up on all the current family news. While in the other room, the men gathered around the TV to watch football, but mostly they napped. I learned early in life I had to be one of the first ones to finish eating so I could get a spot on the floor in front of the TV to nap, and I definitely knew better than trying to get a spot on the couch, as one of my uncles would soon politely move me out of the way.
Thanksgiving always meant something else besides spending time with family. Growing up as a boy in northeast Pennsylvania, Thanksgiving always meant deer season. The first Monday after Thanksgiving was always the first day of buck season, and we never had school. As soon as I turned twelve, I spent every first day of buck season with my father at his hunting cabin. This time spent with my father and the other men at the hunting cabin was like a rite of passage. I learned how to hunt and how to be responsible with a firearm. It was a time when a boy got to move closer to being a young man with greater responsibility.
Thanksgiving 2007 will be a little different for Erin and me. We are going to Colonial Williamsburg with Erin�s mother and brother. We�ll spend a few days learning about colonial America and yes, we�ll have turkey and gravy Thanksgiving Day. I have to have turkey and gravy this year, especially since last year on Thanksgiving I was in Japan with absolutely no turkey in sight.
Whatever plans you have this year, I hope you have a wonderful celebration of life and of family. I hope you are able to gather together to remember just how blessed all of us are, as you think of past memories while at the same time, watch your future and our future growing up right in front of you. Stop and give them a hug and remind them how much they are loved. Happy Thanksgiving!
- Mr. Aten