It's Thanksgiving

What's nice about livin' on the flip side of 50 is - at about this point in  your life,  there's most  probably  children and grandchildren old enough to keep the  traditions going  that were established, with a little encouragement from  mom!  Since no one can make the pumpkin pies and the bread stuffing like "mom" - mom gets to make the pumpkin  pies and  the bread stuffing.   The one  question every year however, in our family is "where" will we hold our holiday celebration?  

Thirty years ago, when our children were growing faster than we realized, - two of them were in college and one was in  junior high,  we decided to move from our big 3 story home in the  city to a small cottage in the suburbs, and one at a time each of them married and started their own families.  While growing up, my parents, their grandparents,  were  where it was at  when the holidays came!  My mother  was a "super-mom" and a "super-grandma" where the holidays were concerned!   - no one could do the holidays  like she could -Thanksgiving, Christmas nor  Easter !     My brothers and sisters and their families all came home to mom's for the holidays also  and we all  loved it!  Mom was generous and she made the holidays very very special for us!    After my dad passed away, our tradition changed , and we all felt the change,  although no one  would admit it . Each of our little families tried to create new traditions, but the yearning for the old ones always remained.  My   children  today  ages 45, 50 and 52, still long for "the good old days" at Nana's -Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter! 


Mom was with us til she was 91  but things were never  really the same after my dad passed away.    My eldest daughter has the largest accommodations, and so our immediate family has  gravitated presently  to her home for the holidays.  My husbands and my little cottage is not adequate for our 16 family members.  My sisters and brothers  (one of them has since passed away)  have created their own traditions and I'm sure they have the same longings we do.  

 It's remarkable the bond that  a tradition can  have.  No matter how hard you try to create what was, there is still that longing for what was  which cannot be  recaptured - except in memory!

Happy Thanksgiving
the kardlady