Celebrating Thanksgiving with my family has changed so much since I was a little girl…
Growing up I would celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents, my sister and my dad’s family. My family and I would go to my dad’s side of the family. We would celebrate with my grandparents, great aunts and uncles and my aunt and uncle. Did that sound confusing to you? That’s okay, sometimes it would be confusing for me too. Anyway we had so much fun with my dad’s family on Thanksgiving. Being an Italian family it was easily a 12 course dinner. My great aunt Jay loved taking pictures of me and my sister pretending to be carving the turkey. There was always lots of food and fun.
As time went on, I grew up and eventually got married…
After my husband and I got married we started a new family tradition and we started going to my husbands uncle’s house for Thanksgiving. Through out those years we spent Thanksgiving with my husband’s family and enjoyed time with them.It wasn’t a 12 course dinner, but it was still fun. Our kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and we enjoyed talking with the adults. As the years went by we invited my parents to come to our house and spend Thanksgiving with us at my husband’s uncle’s house. Sometimes my parents came and some times they didn’t.
Eventually time changes things…
About five years ago my husband and I decided to start staying home for Thanksgiving. We thought it would be a nice change. We thought it would be nice to start a new tradition. Just our family the five of us. Yes, we invited my parents to come up to our house if they wanted to, but they chose not to. That was fine with us. So my family and I would celebrate Thanksgiving together. We would eat our turkey dinner and later on in the day we would play card games.
Sadly my mom passed away almost two years ago now. This has made celebrating Thanksgiving not so easy for me anymore. Yes, I know I have a lot to be thankful for and I am. It’s also a bit of a sad time for me. This Thanksgiving was the first one since my mom passed away that my family and I celebrated with my dad. It was nice to have that time with my dad, but I always find it hard to see him with out my mom. At the same time I am thankful that I had the time with my dad and my family.
