“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God.” ~Abraham Lincoln

Yesterday I began cooking for our Thanksgiving meal which we will enjoy later today.  As I busily messed up my kitchen, I ran across my Granny's handwritten recipe for Candied Sweet Potatoes, splattered with evidence of past use.  I don't use this recipe much anymore - making enough to feed our crew requires doubling the recipe, which would mean adding six cups of sugar.  We prefer to reserve that amount of sugar intake for dessert!  But as a kid, this was by far my favorite part of any holiday meal at Granny's house.

As I read through Granny's neat script yesterday, I smiled at her last sentence - "Pour into bowl and eat like crazy - Ha!"  I can still hear Granny's voice and distinctive chuckle as I read that, and I miss her.

Thanksgiving is a trigger for many such memories.  As a kid, we would always go to Granny's house where she had so much food that it wouldn't all fit on the table.  She would have various overflow dishes scattered around on end tables, the top of the TV, and even on the floor.  She insisted on having everyone's favorites, which were different for everyone. And that was just the meal - she also prepared as many different desserts as there were people, because again - she wanted everyone to have their favorite.  For many years, I was the youngest grandchild in attendance, so I was relegated to sitting on a stool that was too tall for the table, on the end so that my left-handed self did not impede anyone else's meal-eating efficiency.

Eventually, my aunt and uncle helped me out with this by adding my younger cousin to the mix, and I still remember the day he was finally old enough to take over the position on the dreaded stool, and I graduated to a normal chair - what a day!

Most Thanksgivings, after we somewhat recovered from our food comas, we would go out to Uncle Bryan and Aunt Mary's house in the country.  I would go on a walk through the woods with my Daddy, enjoying the crispness of the fall air and the beauty of the changing leaves.

And just like those changing leaves, years passed and life changed.  Eventually, Granny got too old to prepare our Thanksgiving feast, and the yearly celebration was moved to my parents' house.  Then we all grew up and moved away, so we began our own rotation of Thanksgivings spent with our own parents/siblings and those spent with our new families.  I remember the first Thanksgiving I spent in Austin with Jeff's family, and the feeling that it was all wrong - their food and traditions were different from those of my family, and for the first time in my life, there was no dish of Granny's Candied Sweet Potatoes on the table.  But, I adjusted and enjoyed the new dishes, traditions, and people who were now also a part of my family.

Eventually, our children came and grew, older family members passed away, and new plans and traditions were born.  We transitioned from having Thanksgiving meals at grandparent tables to having them at our table.  Our siblings did the same.  And now, things have changed again as our children are grown and beginning families of their own.

Today, our two girls, two bonus sons, and our two grandchildren are in other places.  Sarah, Ryan, Lydia, and Henry are spending their Thanksgiving hosting friends in Tennessee.  Becca and Jeff are celebrating in Indiana with Jeff's family.  Caleb is here, and we will be enjoying a meal with several of our spiritual family later today - two of whom we will meet for the first time when they enter our home to share our meal together - - one of the great blessings of being a part of God's family!

All of the thoughts of Thanksgiving and looking back made me realize that holidays are sort of a microcosm of life.  We are born into certain traditions, and some days are bigger than others - like the days we graduate from the stool or the times when we are painfully aware of the empty chair that was filled in previous years.  We enjoy new additions to the table through marriage and birth, and sometimes we even transition to a totally different table.  Our roles in the event change over time as well - from consumer to producer, and eventually back to consumer.  And interspersed throughout all of the laughter and tears, joy and loneliness, happiness and heartache, celebrations and mundane, runs the common thread of love and family.

So, Happy Thanksgiving!  Wherever you find yourself today, I hope you will feel as loved and overwhelmingly blessed as I do.