I found some pictures of a Thanksgiving dinner table at my mother’s taken in 1986. My husband and my dad sat at each end with my younger sister, all our kids, and me on each side and I guess Mother was taking the picture. The two little kids were seated at a little school desk in tiny school chairs. The baked turkey was on a side table with two pies and the table was full of mashed potatoes, dressing, jellied cranberry sauce, and plastic drink cups. The nice china plates were at each place, with forks, knives, and spoons at the correct position. Oh what I would give to go back to that table to eat.
Mother can’t cook anymore, at almost 98 years gold, but she was a great cook. I know everyone says that about their mother, but our mother has a real claim to fame in our hometown, since she cooked at the school cafeteria for 25 years. Mother and the other cooks went to cook’s school every summer, put on by the state of Oklahoma nutrition program.
Most of the adults who went to school with us remember her great cooking. They remember the homemade yeast rolls, cinnamon rolls, turkey-and-dressing casserole, and peanut butter cookies. The men talk about getting seconds and thirds, especially of the hot rolls, and putting them in their pockets for afternoon recess. They remember her brown beans and cornbread, and chili and beans.
And that is what Thanksgiving is all about, right? No, not really, but that’s how most of us end up spending the holidays, as if it’s all about food, and family, and fun. Each of us has developed our own family ways of celebrating but as a nation this holiday is important for us to give God the thanks for what He has given us.
“ It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night.” Psalms 92:1-2. NKJV.
Let’s make Thanksgiving about the giving of thanks again.