Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? I’m a great believer in being thankful every day, so Thanksgiving isn’t that much different for me. We’re not interested in big feasts, but we did buy a can of olives in the spirit of the occasion.
For us Thanksgiving meant Kaitlin and Torben could take the time to drive here with the granddogs so they could run free up in the mountains. They were here three days and we went up to the land each day and took walks.
Torben and Kaitlin.
Sammy, Torben and Banshee.
They arrived Wednesday evening, and we had picked up Andy’s new Jeep that morning. He had ordered it with a hard top instead of the usual canvas, but it turned out the canvas top was still installed (rolled up) in the back. It was right in the way for our purposes, but the fellow said it wasn’t that hard to uninstall. Just take the hard top off and uninstall the canvas one with a torx wrench. So we took two cars up Thanksgiving Day and took care of that, as well as removing the back seats, so Andy would have plenty of room for all the the tools he takes when driving mountain dirt roads…shovels, hand and power saws, a peevee, crowbar, etc. for removing the trees and rocks that fall on the road.
The new Jeep.
Andy and Kaitlin reading instructions.
Torben working on Jeep after the hard top had been removed.
It turned out to be a not-too-long, fun family project which added to the weekend. And that’s what the weekend was all about, just hanging out together and doing some simple things to create new family memories. That’s my kind of holiday. What was your holiday or weekend like?
It was great! Kids and grandkids were here for Thanksgiving day… and then we went camping after they left!
.-= Mike Goad´s last blog ..Balcony House and more =-.
Our children & their children are on the U.S. East Coast & West Coast, & Sweden.
So we put on our old clothes to look down & out and went to the VFW to eat the free Thanksgiving dinner. (We left enough donation to cover all that food we ate, but not the WORK involved. Actually there aren’t any down & out people here. The “down & out” are all very fat & have homes.)
We don’t do Thanksgiving in Ireland, but give it time and I am sure the Supermarkets will try to persuade us that we should. 🙁
I am thankful every day for waking up, breathing and for the friends i have made.
.-= Grannymar´s last blog ..Food Monday ~ Parsnip & Roast Chestnut Soup =-.
Hi there and Happy Thanksgiving – late – but Happy Holidays – early! Our day was watching football and the grand feast. Quiet and restful.
That looks like some very thankful dogs.
Two years ago my wife and I drove down to UCLA to meet up with our son for Thanksgiving. That meant spending hours sitting in traffic on the 405 and 10 freeways. It was difficult to handle, but the Pilgrims went through worse. Eventually we escaped from LA to a nice cozy fireplace at Big Bear in the mountains. This year we decided to just stay put and take it easy.
.-= Looney´s last blog .. =-.
Mike,
That sounds like a great way to celebrate.
bikehikebabe,
Kaitlin and Torben sometimes come for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, but if anything we would rather not have them traveling during holiday rushes. That’s especially true if they fly.
The VFW dinner isn’t just for poor people, it’s for the community. I went once to see what it was like. I too left a good donation and it felt friendly.
Grannymar,
Ah, yes, the supermarkets. Ours get very crowded just before Thanksgiving and Christmas. I agree with you about being thankful every day.
suzen,
Thank you. I forgot about the football games. Clearly we’re not football fans. 🙂
Looney,
I think that was a wise choice. We stopped traveling during the holidays years ago. Our folks have passed on now, but telephone calls were a part of our Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions. I’m a great one for keeping things easy and low key.
I am in the process of going through old photographs to see if I can bring some order into them and digitalize those that are important. A series of photographs that were taken during our annual trip in the monsoon to a hill station nearby brought back many memories and I was amazed to recollect some of the fishing that Ranjan and I used to do together. Mountains do something to people. We always came back refreshed and humbled too.
.-= Rummuser´s last blog ..Ansooya Rajgopaul – A Tribute. =-.
Question for Mike Goad: I can see that you could go camping now in Australia. Too cold in the U.S. But if you are an Aussi, why were you & your family observing Thanksgiving–an American holiday?
Our daughter in Sweden celebrates Thanksgiving with her American friends every year. Many years ago the turkeys in Sweden were $10 a pound, but that didn’t stop the Americans. Here today in the U.S. our turkeys were 30 cents # (a pound) with other purchase. ( 23 cents # for our son on West Coast.)
bikehilebabe – we live in Arkansas. The campground was full and, if we hadn’t made reservations in advance, the part of the campground we wanted probably would not have been available.
The winter season for Arkansas State Park camping began today…, and I’m in the process of winterizing the RV — blowing all of the water out of the water lines with air and pouring RV anti-freeze in the traps. We probably won’t be camping until March, though in 2007, we went camping in Texas in January.
.-= Mike Goad´s last blog ..Climategate fallout =-.
Rummuser,
Andy digitized all of our old photos and they do bring back memories. 🙂
I agree that mountains, and the sea, are refreshing and humbling experiences. They keep us from taking our little human dramas too seriously.
Glad you had a nice Thanksgiving. Holiday weekends are a great break from routine, I always find; you do need that!
.-= gaelikaa´s last blog ..Mother-In-Law Matters =-.
I really enjoyed your story. Holiday season is always a mixed bag for me. My mother’s concept of Thanksgiving was rooted in the family gathering around the traditional feast, which she would dutifully knock herself out to produce each year.
As the youngest sibling, and last in the house, I had the added perspective of seeing things from the inside (moms perspective), as well as the outside ( my older brothers and their new families). Well, of course, times change, and people want to be free to create their own traditions, and memories.
As time passed, the glorious family get together became something of a tense, tenuous, and at times contentious affair. Sad.
As I grew into an adult, I began to understand the complex relationships we develop around the meaning of the holiday
season. In my mother’s heart, making a warm cozy home gathering happen, full of great food and drink, was her way of saying “love”. I believe that reflects many, if not most, of the mothers of her generation, and before.
One of my brothers and his wife may have preferred to camp out a small Mexican fishing village and sleeping under a palapa. While another may have chosen to forgo the entire exercise, seeing it as being just a function of corporate induced spending. I was always the designated helper, and assigned defender of family tradition (like it or not), and that was ok with me. But at times I longed for the freedom to create a whole new relationship with the holidays. However, now that my mom is no longer with us, and I have the “freedom” to do just that, I really do long for those traditional gatherings, with all the smells, tastes, stories, and,yes, even the stress.
gaelikaa,
Your life is a lot more hectic than ours is. Are your holidays fun for you or are they mostly just more work?
wallsoftroy,
My mom expressed love through food too. I was lucky that she had enough extended family to have a good gathering without us. Once my husband and I left the area and could visit only once a year she didn’t want us to come over Thanksgiving or Christmas. It would have been too crowded and she wanted to spend some time with us. We kept in touch with regular phone calls and were very close.
How much older were your brothers?
Jean,
My next closest brother is years older. Then 11 years, and 14 years. In many respects, more uncles than brothers, as I think about it. hmmmm
Jean, our Thanksgiving was fairly traditional – but thankfully our family is not!
We take in a few members stranded from their families, too, and being alone on the holidays would be sad for them. Otherwise, I would really rather have gone to the mountains like you did!
However, we had gone to the mountains a few weeks earlier and I have some great photos to share of that trip. I love the mountains!!!
.-= Conrad´s last blog ..Statement of Intent =-.
wallsoftroy,
I’m trying to imagine what that would be like. I have one sister, 15 months older than me.
Conrad,
I love the mountains, but I also miss the Pacific Ocean at times. Which mountains did you go to?
Jean, when I was a boy between the ages of 4 and 7, we actually lived in Gunnison, CO each summer while my father went to graduate school and then my grandmother lived in Denver for 15 years at a later time, so I have spent a good deal of time in the Rockies. However, this recent trip was in the Sierras in the area back of Angel’s Camp, up around Arnold and Avery for anyone wishing to locate it on a map.
.-= Conrad´s last blog ..Why I Kicked Ursula Out =-.
Conrad,
Thanks. I love looking things up on maps. I was trying to figure out where we used to go when I was a kid. We would go to Lake Tahoe sometimes, but the only name I remember on the way is Placerville. I do notice the roads are a lot fancier now, so I imagine the area is more built up.
We used to go to the State Fair in Pleasanton as I recall. That area is a lot more built up too. It used to be out in the sticks.