My favorite day of the year

Welcome to the day! Today is one of my favorite days of the year, the day before Thanksgiving Day. When I was working, my schedule was ten hour days on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. So, every Wednesday was a day off for me. When Thanksgiving rolled around, I would take Friday as a vacation day, giving me a five day vacation. That was nice, but what makes Thanksgiving Eve special for me is the memory of spending the whole day in the kitchen prepping for the big feast day. 

The smell of pies baking, the blending of bread cubes, spices, diced onions and celery and turkey giblets and sausage to make the stuffing, the calculation of cook times in order to have everything ready at the same time for the big feast; the memory of these fills me with nostalgia. I guess maybe it was the one day of the year when I could be fully immersed in kitchen tasks. Son Patrick was in school and I had the house to myself.

My family of origin, Mom, Dad and brother Charlie celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas together for many years, and eventually we stopped making Mom and Dad do all the work of hosting. After that, Charlie and his wife Bev would host Thanksgiving dinner and I would host Christmas dinner. The next year we would swap. Whoever hosted prepped the turkey, so one year I would be in charge of turkey, stuffing, potatoes and veggies. Charlie and Bev would bring cranberry dressing and pies. The next year, I would make pies (from scratch, pie crusts and all). There was always a pumpkin pie and a mincemeat pie. I usually made what my grandmother called "hard sauce," for the mincemeat pie. 

This year, Jill and I are in quarantine. Mom and Dad have passed, and as our two families have expanded to include kids with spouses and grandchildren, the big family gatherings with Charlie and Bev have kind of gone by the wayside. So, Jill and I will celebrate Thanksgiving Day by ourselves. The feast dinner will be pared down, but the fun of preparing for it will be just as enjoyable, in fact more so, now that we do it together. We both love being in the kitchen making something delicious to share. In the past we have been blessed to share the feast with others, including kids, grandkids, friends and neighbors. This year we are blessed to be able to share with each other. 

Without the wonderful care I have received from medicos and my wonderful wife, without the prayers of dozens of my brothers and sisters in the Lord, I would not be sharing this Thanksgiving feast with anyone! But God has been merciful and given me one more Thanksgiving Eve to enjoy here on earth. 

I encourage you, on this day to enjoy doing whatever preparations you may be called upon to make for the holiday without grumbling. We all have much to be thankful for, even in hard and trying times. And if you, for whatever reason, are not privileged to enjoy a feast with all the trimmings, I encourage you to make a feast of whatever God provides for you tomorrow. 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)

One thing I have learned on this journey is that it does me no good to focus on what I don't have. But when I focus on the Giver of all good things and all that He has done for me, every day is a feast! 

Happy Thanksgiving (Eve)!!