Happy Thanksgiving!
As many of us are, I'm off from work today. As fewer of us men are, I'm about to cook the great thanksgiving dinner, having spent a part of yesterday prepping. It's something I really enjoy.
But before beginning what will be a long, and somewhat intense shift in the kitchen, it's time to recollect myself and thank God for His many blessings, of which there are so many. Each year, though, one or two stand out. This year it's my Aunt, who died, just about two years after her beloved husband of 60+ years. If we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving at home, it was at my Aunt's. Epic, memorable Thanksgiving meals in the "old" Italian-American tradition: Antipasto, pasta with meat balls and sausage...preceding the traditional American meal of turkey et al. If you're not Italian-American of that glorious era of massive Thanksgiving feasts, you can hardly imagine what it was like. Even thinking about it now, it does seem hard to believe we actually ate all that stuff. But as a kid, it was an immeasurable joy, a veritable paradise - yes, a taste of Heaven. (We won't even get into dessert: Yes, there was dessert after all this!)
Thanksgiving was only the tip of the iceberg with my Aunt. As the years passed, our time together lessened and our relationship evolved. It was all good. After my Mom died, leaving my father to fend for himself, my Aunt and Uncle used to drive from their home and spend most days keeping him company. It was her third time around: she took care of her mother-in-law in her last days, then her brother (the older brother of my Dad), finally my Dad. (I'm not her judge, but I do pray that Our Lord counts these acts of immeasurable charity in her favor. As is the case with most of us, she wasn't a perfect human being.)
Well, it's time to get the turkey out of the fridge, dress it, plunk it in the oven and get on with all the other items. We'll be blessed with some of our children, one of their wives, a fiancee, and...well, it's hard to imagine a better Thanksgiving than this one. How blessed we are this year, as we have been for so many years.
With best wishes to you for a
But before beginning what will be a long, and somewhat intense shift in the kitchen, it's time to recollect myself and thank God for His many blessings, of which there are so many. Each year, though, one or two stand out. This year it's my Aunt, who died, just about two years after her beloved husband of 60+ years. If we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving at home, it was at my Aunt's. Epic, memorable Thanksgiving meals in the "old" Italian-American tradition: Antipasto, pasta with meat balls and sausage...preceding the traditional American meal of turkey et al. If you're not Italian-American of that glorious era of massive Thanksgiving feasts, you can hardly imagine what it was like. Even thinking about it now, it does seem hard to believe we actually ate all that stuff. But as a kid, it was an immeasurable joy, a veritable paradise - yes, a taste of Heaven. (We won't even get into dessert: Yes, there was dessert after all this!)
Thanksgiving was only the tip of the iceberg with my Aunt. As the years passed, our time together lessened and our relationship evolved. It was all good. After my Mom died, leaving my father to fend for himself, my Aunt and Uncle used to drive from their home and spend most days keeping him company. It was her third time around: she took care of her mother-in-law in her last days, then her brother (the older brother of my Dad), finally my Dad. (I'm not her judge, but I do pray that Our Lord counts these acts of immeasurable charity in her favor. As is the case with most of us, she wasn't a perfect human being.)
Well, it's time to get the turkey out of the fridge, dress it, plunk it in the oven and get on with all the other items. We'll be blessed with some of our children, one of their wives, a fiancee, and...well, it's hard to imagine a better Thanksgiving than this one. How blessed we are this year, as we have been for so many years.
With best wishes to you for a
Happy Thanksgiving!
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