Prayers of Thanks

Whenever I think of Thanksgiving I think of family and the time we have spent with one another and the little incidents that seemed to happen every year.

My fondest Thanksgiving memories are eating Thanksgiving Dinner at Grandma Donovan's home on Farmington Ave in Connecticut. I remember the whole Donovan clan being in attendance. There must have been 20 or more people. My grandparents would cook a gigantic 25 lb turkey all day in the basement oven and the aroma would drift up through the whole house and make us wild with hunger. One year I was able to secure a seat at the main table in the dining room (where all the adults were seated). I don't remember but apparently that Thanksgiving I said something out of school, so my mother kicked me under the table. My response was to ask her "what are you kicking me for Ma?" That story has been repeated a thousand time since.

(I was notorious for these kinds of one-line bloopers as a kid. When my cousin Henry got married, my parents made all us kids go up to the bride and groom during the reception to "say something." (I was probably 8 or 9 at the time) I had no idea about what to say to the newly married couple, so, instead of "congratulations" or something like that I said to Henry, "So (pause) ...what's new?" As soon as I said it, I was mortified. I don't remember what Henry answered, but every time I tell this story, my sister Jane roars!)

I remember the Thanksgiving we had the Sato's for dinner and Yashiko came dressed in a kimono. (Talk about going "full circle" tomorrow we are having Ryan Rupert and his fiance, Megumi and Ryan's parents to dinner. ) For some reason that Thanksgiving with the Sato's stands out in my memory. It was the first time Yashiko and Max ever had turkey, by the way. She was quite taken aback that the whole bird was served in a recognizable form...kind of how I feel about the lamb's head my Italian grandmother use to make!

Then there was a Thanksgiving when my parents had Joe and Sarah and their small kids over for dinner. Joe decided to give his infant son a sip of wine out of a fragile wine glass and the baby promptly bit on the glass and started chewing! Blood was coming out of the baby's mouth and the adults in the room were having conniptions. I remember Sarah yelling at her husband, "Why on earth would you give a baby wine!" (Good question! What was he thinking??)

In high school we would go to the season-ending Thanksgiving football game (Hatboro-Horsham vs West Moreland) and then come home to dinner. There were a few years in Philadelphia when we went to see the Army-Navy game, courtesy of Uncle Tim, who was career Army. My father (a Navy man) and Tim had a bet going each year about who would win the game, and as I recall, the payoff was a bottle of booze. When Navy won my father would receive a bottle of Strega at Christmas. I loved the tradition and pageantry of the Army-Navy game; it was always fun.

In college I came home for Thanksgiving one year and we decided to go ice-skating before dinner. I fell on the ice and broke my right wrist, but I only discovered it was broken after I got home. We were eating Thanksgiving dinner and my wrist started to swell in the warm air and ache like the devil. I remember that Thanksgiving distinctly because I had to go back to college and take my final exams left handed. Ouch.

We celebrated Thanksgiving every year we lived in Japan, but it was hard to come by Turkey. (The Japanese don't eat turkey.) Yoko would invariably find a small turkey and make the traditional turkey dinner each year. We would invite her parents to dinner, but Thanksgiving in Japan was never like it was here in the US. I always got homesick at Thanksgiving.

Since returning to the States, we have had Thanksgiving dinner at our house every year. My mother and father would join us when they lived here in Punta Gorda, and for many years my Rotary club would purchase complete dinners to deliver to needy families. On a few occasions I took my girls with me so that they could begin to appreciate and give thanks for all their good fortune. I think delivering turkeys to the needy on Thanksgiving day was one of the best ways I have ever celebrated Thanksgiving.

What about this year? Well, June is in Hawaii and Paula is in California, so we won't be sharing Thanksgiving together. We'll be thinking of them and our extended family, however, and giving thanks for all the love and blessings God has bestowed on us. We love you and miss you all! Happy Thanksgiving!