As I sit and think about Thanksgiving tomorrow, the food,
family, and all the many ways God has blessed me and my family in ways that are
far beyond what we deserve; I am always brought back to memories from long ago
of Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings spent with my family. I’ve been thinking about writing about
this for a while, years in fact, because these are such amazing and happy
memories that I recollect every year that define my family and how special they
are to me.
Now let me start off by saying that if you don’t know me or
any other members of my family, we can very easily be described as
“unique”. We can amuse ourselves
endlessly with silliness and have a sense of humor that would cause many to
scratch their heads. Growing up, we always spent
Thanksgiving at my Grandmom Wiltsey’s house in Seaford, Delaware. She lived in a rambler on about an acre
and a half that backed up to a small pond. I remember when we would drive over to Seaford the night before
Thanksgiving and the two hour drive seemed to last forever. But I always knew we were getting close
when I would see the RAPA Scrapple sign on the side of the road in Bridgeville
and I could hardly contain myself with excitement! The day of Thanksgiving, my brother Paul and I would always
find ways to occupy our time until the evening feast. This could be shooting soda cans with the pellet gun my
Grandmom had, taking the canoe out onto the pond (and then trying to shoot down
fresh mistletoe from the trees with the pellet gun), or maybe racing around the
fields on my Aunt Peggy’s Honda ATC.
Finally, after many hours of waiting, it was time to
eat. The table was filled with the
usual array of Thanksgiving goodies: turkey (which my parents always made me
eat despite me being allergic and they thought I was faking this allergy for
many years up until middle school), mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry
sauce (from the can, the only way to eat it), rolls, stuffing, and so on. Now, I get to a part that is both
disgusting and hilarious at the exact same time……..the trainwreck. The goal of the trainwreck is to
carefully select as many different colors of food and place them in your mouth
all at once. You then chew very
carefully to make sure the “palette” is just the right texture and then look for an
opportunity to make eye contact with someone else at the table. This can be
anyone: mom, dad, aunt, uncle, brother, grandmom (well, she would fuss at you) or a guest
(sorry Lori and Kris, you got no warning about this) Once you made eye
contact, then you would open your mouth to display your “trainwreck” to them,
but without letting anyone else notice you. This was usually the
highlight of the meal, seeing how many times you could do it to as many people
as possible. And like I said,
NOONE was spared from this experience.
Then, when everyone was full, and all 10,000 desserts were sampled, it
was time to play Trivial Pursuit or Balderdash into the late evening.
The rest of the weekend was filled with
shopping, goofing off, and other halfway dangerous activities that my brother
and I could get into, but it was the start to a holiday season that was sure to
be filled with many more adventures.
As our family has grown and changed over the years we always have have a
great time just being us, and for that I am truly thankful.
