My Favorite Thanksgivings
As I mentioned in my Pre-planning post regarding holiday plans, Thanksgiving was never much of a holiday in my home growing up. My Mom is one of 6 and my Dad is one of five. That makes for the potential to have at least someone over for Thanksgiving. But, other family members seemed to have their own plans and the major gathering became Christmas.
Because of this, I can only remember one Thanksgiving when my aunt and cousin came. Other than that, all I remember about Thanksgiving was dry turkey meat and green bean casserole.
1985 - Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
My Dad took a civilian job on the Naval Base affectionately known as "Gitmo" in 1985; I was in 7th grade. That Thanksgiving, my Dad opted to take part in a program where families could invite enlisted folks (who were stationed there away from their families) to their homes for Thanksgiving.
Three enlisted sailors with whom my Dad worked in the engineering department came to our house. I vividly remember playing Monopoly with them for a couple of hours. One guy was really good at the game and ended up destroying me in the end. I was bitter but pleased that I had outlasted the rest of the pack.
We finished the afternoon off with dry turkey meat and green bean casserole.
1991 - Los Angeles, CA
When I was in college, I didn't have the financial resources to fly home (Los Angeles to Florida) for both Thanksgiving and Christmas so I spent Thanksgivings in Los Angeles. While most of my friends and classmates went home, there were a couple of us who stayed in the dorms.
In 1991, I spent Thanksgiving with some of the guys that lived in my wing of the dorm. One was a metal-head from Boston with whom I got along really well. We went as a group to the cafeteria and splurged on some burgers, using our meal "points" instead of just one of the daily meals from the meal plan.
The cafeteria was nearly empty and we had a blast. I remember thinking how relaxing it was to just be hanging out with a bunch of friends and not have dry turkey meat and green bean casserole.
2008 - Somers, CT
After 11 years of Thanksgiving events with my former in-laws and their families, everything changed. My father-in-law, with whom I was very close, passed away earlier that year and my ex-wife and I were beginning the divorce process. We had agreed to split Thanksgiving with the boys between the two homes.
My sister was visiting from Georgia and it was unusually warm. We went for a hike with my dog in the State Forest that was opposite my house.
Knowing that the boys' mother's family would stick with tradition and have turkey and the rest, I decided to do something completely different. My sister and I picked up live lobsters, shrimp and steaks. When the kids were dropped off, we put the lobsters on the counter to walk around. Zac, who was 7, was very frightened and stayed far away from the counter.
The four of us had the most atypical Thanksgiving meal of our lives which did not consist of dry turkey meat or green bean casserole.
This year marks the first year since the divorce that the boys will not have to split the day between both homes; we are now alternating years. My boys are with Joyce and me this year and we are all going to a friend's house. The cooking is being done by someone else and I am actually looking forward to dry turkey meat and green bean casserole.
Image courtesy of nongpimmy/freedigitalphotos.net
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