Trainwreck: Celebrating Holidays as a Wiltsey – Part 1

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.