Thanksgiving in The Northwest
As Thanksgiving approaches families are preparing to scatter throughout the Northwest to their favorite destinations for the holiday of Thanks. The fall festival is the highlight of the autumn season and prelude to the biggest holiday of the year - Christmas.
Up here in Bellingham, WA the first sign the Northwest is bringing fall is the splendor of colors in the leaves like a beautifully designed quilt and the cool crisp air moving in from the Pacific. When November comes, so do the winds and the rains this year in particular with the record rainfall by Mid-November. It can only mean one thing, Thanksgiving is just about here.
Thinking of Thanksgiving conjures up happy thoughts of being in the kitchen while Mom and my sisters worked on dinner for the day. The smell of turkey was everywhere, pumpkin and apple pie sitting on the counter, mashed potatoes, sweet yams and biscuits blended into the aurora of smells…mmmm…Thanksgiving dinner!
While the gals of the house were cooking up the annual feast, dad and we boys were in the family room watching Thanksgiving Day parades on TV and the afternoon football games. My wife says to add with a wink that of coarse this isn’t how things are now…that was circa1970 and these days us men are more involved (then my wife, with another wink adds that if she let me in the kitchen we’d probably be eating Chinese food for T-day). Hey, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeves…why one year I made a very well received dish of toasted pecan sweet potatoes!
Well anyway as we got closer to dinner a few relatives and friends would show up and join in. By now everyone was getting anxious to enjoy all the fixings of the day!
When it was finally time to sit down and eat, everyone would grab their place at the table with dad saying grace and then on to the star of the show….the turkey! This year unlike any other…Dad was passing the baton on carving the turkey. He reached over, gave me the big fork and knife and said “here you go son”. Of course after watching the old man for 12 years I thought “no problem” and dove right in like an old pro, even though my hands were shaking and my brow was sweating. But somehow, I slowly made that first cut …
Well it didn’t quite turn out like dad’s handy work (ahem) actually far from it but as I looked around the table, there were all smiles looking back at me and we dug in and enjoyed another thanksgiving. Afterwards, we felt as stuffed as the turkey we just ate!
In our youth we all learned in school and books the story of the first Thanksgiving. Whether the truth or just a myth it’s a celebration that has been shared for hundreds of years. No matter what the real story is with Thanksgiving, to me personally it’s always the time of year I reflect back on things I’m thankful for. It’s the time of year to realize all that we have to be thankful of. The time to extend out to those in need and try to give them a boost up when everything around them seems to be caving in. The time of year we give thanks to all those we love and help the ones who need our support.
That’s the true meaning of thanksgiving…a time to say thank you. So when you’re heading out this year to your destinations think about the things, people or places that you’re thankful for. Let that special person in your life know how much you care about them…let them know the heart felt greeting of “Thank you…I care about you.” And remember that it’s doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving to be thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone