Thanksgiving Memories

My memories of Thanksgiving were always driving to Fairview to my Grandma's house. I was always so excited that I could hardly contain myself. I thought we would never get there. Those were the days when there was no freeway and we had to take HWY 89 all the way. We used to sing Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmother's house we go. When we got to the railroad bridge which was called Hill Top, I knew we would soon be there and the my excitement grew more intense. My cousins were always there as well and would help my grandma, my aunt and my mom make the fruit salad by whipping the cream and stirring the gravy.

My grandma had a big dining room where we all sat. I remember she had glasses with pictures of horses on them. We got to use the good china. We got to have orange Kool Aid. I never got to have Kook Aid at home. We always had to have milk. So I was so glad to drink Kool Aid.  My cousin Bessie and I always got the giggles and we would get angry looks from my mom and grandma. We stuffed ourselves with the turkey and all the trimmings, the cranberry sauce and all the pumpkin pie. We got so full that we thought we might die and my mom would tell us to go and walk up and down the road to wear off the food. But we too full to move. All the adults sat around and most of them fell asleep. The rest of the day was kind of boring. We wondered why we had gotten so excited in the first place.

We left for home when it was getting dark and I liked to look at the mountains in the twilight and imagine there were ghosts looking down on us. Those days are long gone. Bessie died when she was only 16. Grandpa Sanders died in 1956. Grandma Sanders is gone too. She died in 1993. Mom and Dad left in 2003. My uncle and many of my cousins have left this world as well. But I still remember those days like they were yesterday. I am so glad I have those memories. Death is inevitable but we live on through our memories and children.