It's a time to think about what we're most grateful for... our blessings, if you will.
This blog is full of my blessings.
For today, I'll think about the actual act of gathering family and friends in around a table
to celebrate that closeness where we know that we are part of a spirit of companiable being together.
I happened to inherit the house in which my extended greater circle of family has celebrated most holidays for the last 110 + years. For many, other than just me, it is a home-coming... a returning to where earliest memories are of relatives and friends, of food and celebration, of human touch and connection. There is nothing fancy here... nothing modern or new. It is old and soft and offers up the charm of time gone by.
I am thankful that the house still stands, home to me and mine and a place that we love to share.
Thursday was Thanksgiving day... and this Thanksgiving there were people missing among our number.
We felt the space and miss the souls that have gone on.
We celebrate the incoming of new members to the family, by birth and by marraige, by engagement and by new friendships. We hope that they feel and know how very welcomed they are.
The definition of family here is not what you would first think of, but is all encompasing.
I am thankful for the family that I have... that which I was born into, that which I married into, that which I made with my husband and those friends who have joined me on the journey, whom I love and adore and count as family where I find them. They are all a blessing to me, truly.
As folks gathered to share the meal, the chatter and noise picked up and the hugs went round like wildfire.
Dishes were cooked and brought to share. The table was expanded (yes, with that extra leaf it IS a trick table) and mismatched chairs gathered round. I am grateful that no chairs broke, nobody fell down and that no filled plates went airborne in the attempt to gather round.
Grace was shared... and then the feed began. Goodness... what fun... and how quiet things get in that ten minutes after everyone is seated. As appetites are whetted the conversation picks back up... and you hear the familiar voices... the zany sense of humor... the signature laughter... you see their smiling eyes.
I'm thankful that I love to cook and that I love to eat and that I've health in abundance to share in this time.
I need a solid week to revel in thanks giving... to enjoy the afterglow of the coming together of us all.
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