Thanksgiving

I just love this picture....it reminds me of when we use to have our Thanksgiving dinners at our old house in Queens, NY. Actually, our dining room looked similar to this one, and the table setting the same too. Mom would be cooking for days. Mom always did the BEST job with preparing our Thanksgiving dinner. What memories I have of our Thanksgiving when I was a little girl. Our house was all decorated for Autumn. The dining room was huge, and the table was huge, too. Sometimes Mom would even let me stay home from school the day before just to help her set the table and prepare. And I mean we "set the table"....we didn't use paper plates, we used her best china, linens, and stemware, and we had like 15 guests, too! The table was always so beautiful! But the smell of Thanksgiving was in the air even the week before. Our church where my dad was the pastor, was all decorated for Thanksgiving, too. Everyone really made such a big fuss over the day. It was wonderful. Grandma, and Grandpa Behr, Aunt Gundel, Uncle Fred and the cousins would all come over that morning and join us in church. I remember waking up on Thanksgiving Day morning, and the smell of roasting turkey would be throughout the house!

Our church service was really festive, we sang all the Thanksgiving hymns, and the choir would sing a special song, and then Dad would preach his sermon. Then after church we would all hurry back to our house for the feast! And what a feast it was. Mom would be busy at the stove, Dad would be carving the turkey, us kids would be running around waiting to eat! Then it was time to sit down for dinner...and one special touch that mom made special every year were the place cards. On each place card was a Thanksgiving verse from the Bible. We would all take turns and read our special verse. I remember as a little girl taking my card and practicing the verse, so I would say it just right! After the dinner we were all so full, it was delicious. Then when evening set in, our relatives didn't run home, like some do now....they stay and we would light all the candles in the dining room, it was beautiful! Then out came all the pies...apple, pumpkin, mincemeat...and not just one of each...mom would bake from scratch, 3 of each. Then after the pies were done, still the relatives didn't run home, we all sat in the living room that Thanksgiving night and watched the "The Waltons, Thanksgiving Special"....it was one of the best times of my life. Everyone was happy to be there...no one was complaining. We all enjoyed each others company.

What happy memories from my childhood. We still follow the same traditions....decorate the house for Autumn, set a beautiful table with our best china and stemware. We still eat a delicious feast, and pies...mom still makes the pies, but only 1 each these day....3 each was way too many. We still keep the place card tradition, too. This Thanksgiving will be bittersweet for our family. It will be the first without our Dad/Opa. We will miss him dearly. Daddy loved Thanksgiving. Now he's celebrating Thanksgiving in Heaven with his loved ones, and his Heavenly Father. Dad is out of pain, and his eyesight is restore!!! Happy Thanksgiving Daddy!!! And Happy Thanksgiving to all my family and friends.