Thanksgiving Post Holiday Remarks :)

OMG!!!! I am still tired and full from yesterday.  Good Grief (in my Charlie Brown voice).  It was a good day.  I truly cannot complain.

Menu: Spinach Balls, Southwestern Salad, Fruit Salad, Buffalo Chicken Dip Bread Bowl, Turkey/Dressing, Baked Mac/Cheese (2), Potato Salad, Grilled Chicken/Broccoli in Bechamel sauce, mixed vegetables, zucchini nachos, dinner rolls, collard/turnip greens, and cranberry sauce

Drinks: Apple Pie Punch (alcoholic/non-alcoholic), Wine, Beer, and pop

Dessert: Caramel apple cupcakes, hummingbird cake, german chocolate cake, apple pie, and sweet potato pit

I am thankful and blessed for ALL of the people in my life that I consider “family”.  It is not all by blood, but also byway of friendships.  So, it wasn’t just a day of giving thanks, but a day of appreciation.  Every day is not filled with those blessings you feel you deserve, but it is blessed nonetheless.  On this day (in particular), you are surrounded by your loved ones enjoying good food, good drinks, music, games, and moments of “I think I ate too much (lol)”.  We had decorations up, and food & drinks everywhere, from the living room to the kitchen.  No complaints could be made.  It is how it should have been.  I did feel that something was missing.   Let me correct myself and say, someone.

A portion of my Thanksgiving I took to thoughts of my grandfather.  He was a beloved man.  You could just observe him and learn so much.  He would talk & everyone would listen.  He has been labeled as “the glue” that kept the family together.  He died 2 years ago on the same day my niece was born.  So, when I look at her I instantly think of him.  Since his passing, every holiday & every Saturday I think of him because those days never seem complete because he isn’t “physically” there.  He had such a huge impact on my family that you can feel his absence.   Through all the conversations I have had and overheard, he was all about family.  It was top on his list.  I think if anyone ever tried they could never fill even half of his shoes.  You didn’t walk all over him and he didn’t allow you to walk over anyone else.  He didn’t play that.  You HAD to respect people, no exceptions. I remember when my sister and I were much younger, my grandfather (or Big Daddy as we called him) would go to the store and get this Vienna ice cream cake that he knew we liked because we were coming over.  When I was in high school, he would end up at the bus stop where I was waiting to get home from school.  He would pick me up and take me home.  All the while I am thinking, “what are you doing this way”?  He did things like that just because.  I go through thinking “where would we be if he were still here?”  That is what makes me appreciate my family and friends more.  He showed me what was acceptable and what wasn’t.  He showed me I was worth it that I need to show others their worth.  I do not step on a person’s grass to this day.  Big Daddy said “it is disrespectful to step on a man’s grass when he has worked so hard to get it”.

Family is so important because if you have no one else you have them.  It is just the thought of him that makes me want to do and be better because anything else would go against what he stood for.  This Thanksgiving,  I am grateful for the Lord above, my Big Daddy’s teachings, the family he has surrounded me with, my friends, and all the many blessings I have received to this day.  How can I really complain when the people who support me most are there in my inner circle and have been all of my life?  If you reach the house my grandfather lived in, then you have been marked as my family.

I hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed as mine.  If not, I pray you get another chance to make it better next year.