"Hem Your Blessings with Thankfulness So They Don't Unravel" - Author Unknown

Thanksgiving conjures up images of a large beautiful family gathered around the table dressed in their holiday best, smiling while Dad stands at the head of the table carving a perfectly golden turkey on a platter surrounded by grapes and fig leaves, Mom sitting next to him in her flounce apron looking up at him smiling. The children are sitting patiently with their cloth napkin tucked into their collars, waiting to be served, while colorful leaves gently falling from the trees outside can be seeing through a foggy window. Not! That Norman Rockwell scene may be a reality to some but that's not how it played out in my house.

My Dad never carved a turkey a day in his life. That job went joyfully to his brother, my Uncle Joe. He would pull out that electric knife like Arnold Schwarzenegger and take it to that bird in two minutes flat. It was never carved at the table in front of everyone either because for sure the greasy shrapnel would have landed in someone's hair. We always knew when we heard the knife rev up it was time to go to the table.

Mom wasn't an apron kind of girl. She much preferred the dish towel thrown over her shoulder because it did double duty as a pot holder AND a sweat rag. Our little apartment kitchen would get so hot we would have all the windows cranked completely open and we'd still be dying! "Holiday best" didn't mean crisply-starched dress shirts or pretty autumns sweaters, rather it meant short-sleeved cotton tee shirts and plenty of 'em! There were not children in fancy clothes, either. Actually, I always remember each year at least one of us being sick and to this day we still get a chuckle looking back at old pictures and seeing who was in their bathrobe at the table that year.

And who could forget the year Dad was asked to take the bird out of the oven and lost his grip on the disposable aluminum pan it was in, dropping it and spilling turkey grease all over the inside of the oven, setting off the smoke detector for 20 minutes. I'm sure Norman Rockwell's six grandchildren never fled his house covering their ears while running out on the front lawn in the freezing cold because they thought the house was burning down!

Ah, Thanksgiving and all the wonderful memories. Here's hoping your Thanksgiving is full of memories you will carry with you for a lifetime.