Thanksgiving Memories

It's late Sunday night and our Thanksgiving weekend is coming to a close.

As I sit here at my computer thinking of these past few days, my mind goes back to our Thanksgivings past. 

How fast the years go by.  When you are young and just starting out, ten years will seem like an eternity, but then five times that, plus a few more years and it does turn out to some, as an eternity.  But too me, it just seems like yesterday.

When I was growing up our Thanksgiving Day was spent at my Aunt Sissie's.  We would arrive early so my mother could help my Aunt and my Nannie with the dinner and then my siblings and I would play with our cousin.  We always had a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  My Nannie would bake the best apple and pumpkin pies.  This was a wonderful traditions that our family did every year. But when my cousin was married, they were invited to her in-law's for Thanksgiving dinner and so, a new, or should I say, another traditions started.

Thanksgiving morning in 1942 my Daddy woke me up early and told me to hurry and get dressed, for we were going to Aunt Sissie's.  Why would we go so early in the morning, it was still dark out side???  Well, you see, my mother was pregnant and her pains had started, so she needed to get to the hospital.  I was just 6 at the time and I had a little sister who was just 16 months.  Well, we hurried to my Aunt Sissie's where Daddy dropped us kids off and then took Mama to the hospital.  Mama had always said that when they arrived at my Aunt's house, when she answered the door her comment was "I told you to come early, but not this early." 

My Brother Butch was born about 6 o'clock that evening on Thanksgiving Day and every few years, we not only celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a turkey dinner and all the trimmings, but with a birthday cake too.  I asked him just yesterday if he ever felt cheated about sharing his birthday with the turkey and he said, "NO," for not everyone has so many people celebrating their birthday on their day, as he does on his special day...

Well, I just looked at the clock and it looks like the time has come to put my memories to bed. There will be another day and another time for me to take you down  my "Thanksgiving Day Memories."   Until then---

Thanksgiving Blessings

Thanksgiving Day is almost here and with it brings to me, not only gratitude, but thankfulness for my many Blessings. 

I'm thankful for the family I have and for my lovely home.  I'm thankful for a dear and wonderful husband, who has loved me all my life. 

I'm thankful for 4 great and wonderful children, for the joy and happiness they have brought to me.  I'm thankful for their spouses, for their love and kindness they give to me, but especially to them for loving their wife or husband, who is my child. 

I am thankful for my 15 grandchildren, and for the special people they are.  I'm thankful for the 21 great grandchildren that warms my heart, with their happy smiles and the hugs and kisses they so freely give me.

I am thankful that I was blessed with goodly parents, that not only loved each other, but loved us, their children.  I am thankful for the home I was raised in and for the teaching I was taught.  I am thankful for my brothers and sister, for their spouses and their children that call me Aunt.....

I am thankful for my grandparents, especially to my Nannie who instilled in me eternal truths.  I'm thankful for great grandparents that had the courage and faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to leave everything in their native land and crossed a ocean, to pull a handcart and walk hundreds of miles across a barren land for religious freedom.

I am thankful for all my extended family, Aunts, Uncles and cousins.  I have been richly blessed for how they have touched my life.

I am thankful for my husbands family, for his parents, for raising such a wonderful son, my sweetheart, and for the love he has for his siblings.

I'm thankful for the land I live in and the freedoms I enjoy.  I'm thankful for those who serve our Country so I can enjoy these freedoms.  I'm thankful for our flag that waves over this land of the free and that I can stand and say "I am a American."

And mostly, I am thankful for the knowledge I have in the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the testimony I have.  I know that I am a Child of God and that I am Loved.

Yes, Thanksgiving Day will be here, and I will enjoy this day, for you see, I will have some of my family with me, around my table as we give thanks for all of our many blessings.

May you too have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and may your blessings be many......







   

Phone Call From My Brother

It was just the other night around 8 o'clock that my telephone rang.  I answered it with a cherry  "Hello," and then I heard an familiar voice saying "Hi" this is your brother Kent....Oh Kent, it's been way too long since we have talked.  I have thought of you so often, but the time just seems to get away from me without making that phone call.  

He said he just received an email from my daughter Marta, I guess she is so excited that her  Mama is writing a blog, that she emailed her siblings, her children and other family members, telling them that there's a new blogger out in cyberspace that they should check out.  So he did, and to his surprise it was his sister....Now you must know, my brother is a Computer wiz, he does this for a living, working for large companies, writing their program, solving their computer problems and now his sister is in cyberspace doing more than just emailing.  I'm sure he was thinking WHAT IS GOING ON????/

It was good to hear his voice and we talked about "what was going on" in our lives, and now that the holiday season is upon us we should get together.  He lives some distance from me in another state, and so plans would have to be made to make this happen.

Kent's a good brother and I love him very much.  He's my youngest brother.  You see, I was fourteen when he was born.  When Mother told us children (there was three of us then) that she was going to have a baby, we were all so excited.  We all felt that Dad and her planned this new addition because my siblings and I wanted a baby in our family.  Little to our knowledge that wasn't so, but she let us believe it was true.

The joy and excitement we all felt when Kent was born.  My younger brother and sister went to stay with my Aunt Sissie, while Mama was in the hospital, but I stayed home.  I remember Daddy taking me to the hospital one night to see Mama and my new little brother.  I felt so special to be the first one to see him, I could hardly wait for the day Daddy would bring Mama and our new baby home.

I would hurry home from school each day so I could hold him and help take care of him.  If he was fussy when Mama was fixing dinner, she would give him to me and I would sit in the front room, in the old upholster rocking chair and rock him and sing to him.

He was such a happy baby and a pretty one too, (if I dare say that) he had beautiful blue eyes and lots of dark hair and such a sweet smile.  He seemed to enjoy all the fussing we his siblings showered upon him, and it wasn't long until we all started to call him "Kentie" to this day our sister still calls him that and to our Mother he was always her "Kentie."

I was married when Kent was only three and my Marta was born just before Kent was five.  He was excited at the news that he was now an Uncle, but his friends would tell him he wasn't, because he was too young to be an Uncle, but Kent would insist he was an Uncle and he was.....

It was good talking to you brother dear, I love you and I'll talk to you again real soon, in the meantime, maybe you will see this in cyberspace and know I was thinking of you.

Passport to Travel

My Daughter Marta says I should post a new entry often on my Blog... I asked her, "How often is often?" and her reply was, "at least a few times a week."....  Oh my goodness, what could I possibly write about, let alone a few times a week, that would be interesting for even me to read?????

Take yesterday for example... 

 My dear husband and I had decided to obtain our passports.   Why?  Who knows, maybe we might decide to be world travelers.  The most traveling we've done is going to see our children, although we did take a cruise to Mexico once and even flew to Hawaii for a week, but to be world travelers? 

He has talked about a cruise to Alaska, we have some friends that took this cruise this past summer and they said it was Wonderful..  I think I would enjoy that, he also says it would be fun to have our children with us, I think that would be fun too. 

Who knows, at least we filled out the papers, had our pictures taken and paid our money.   The lady at the post office who took our money, said it would take about 4 to 6 weeks before we would receive our passport book.  We still have lots of time to think about it and even dream.  Then who knows what our plans may be....

We are basically homebody people, we enjoy being at home.  Home is where our Heart is, but I think it would be fun to do some traveling, in fact when I pick my bags I'll take my Heart with me...

Welcome To My World

My oldest daughter Marta came home for a visit just recently, now I say "Home" and that's because that's where her Mom and Dad live, not the home she was raised in, but home is home where love and memories are felt and seen. 

I have two rooms that are Guest Rooms in my new home, one is the Red Room and the other is the Blue Room.  My guest have their choice in which room they would like to stay.  My husband calls the Red Room the Hot Room and the Blue Room the Cool Room, I'm not sure why he says that, but we smile and have a little laugh and a tight squeeze.  I love the Victorian Style with a nostalgia flair and my home has this feeling.

I told my daughter she could stay in the room she wished.  She looked them both over and then chose the Red Room.  After a few days she told me how much she was enjoying this room, she said it was because she had her family all around her, you see, I have vaulted ceilings in my home and in my Guest Rooms I have a shelf  running around, above the windows, of the three walls and on the shelf I have pictures and keepsakes. The pictures in the red room are of her children and her grandchildren, she felt loved, she was wrapped with warm, cozy and happy feelings, it just felt good to her.

We had a wonderful visit, went many places, saw many things, did lots of visiting with family and lots of talking and sharing.  She said to me "Mom, you need to do a Blog."  A Blog?  What is a Blog????   She told me she has been doing a Blog, in fact, she has been doing it for over a year and all her children are doing one too.  You need to do one, she said.  It's like writing a journal, just talking to yourself.  You can write about your memories, your dreams or just your thoughts and your feelings. It's fun.  She pulled up her "Blog" and I started to read. It was fun, to read how she felt about things, about events, about life and about what makes her happy.  OK, Sweetheart, your Mama doesn't know that  much about this ole PC, so you'll have to set me up and teach me a few things, and then we see what we can do and maybe your Mama will have a Blog too.

So here it is.  "Life's Peaceful Moments"  This will be my Blog.  My daughter Marta has gotten me started and my talented and artistic granddaughter Cara has done all the art work, I hope you like it, I know I do, in fact I love it, love it, love it, thank you Cara.....Sooo... Welcome to my World......