Thanksgiving Past and Present

As I cooked my turkey last week and the smell filled my house, I was reminded of past Thanksgivings. The first memory the smell of cooking turkey brought back was that of my Aunt Joyce's house. When I was younger we would go to her and Uncle Ken's house for Thanksgiving each year. I could close my eyes and picture their house that sat on the highway. I could see the playroom that my cousins and I would spend hours playing in. I remembered all the great food we ate and the love our family shared in that house.
Our Thanksgiving this year was somewhat smaller than it had been in the past. Usually my parents are able to make it to TN, but my mom had to work so they stayed home. Most of our TN friends were out of town or having family at their house. We had a nice cozy Thanksgiving dinner with our six, and Jeff's mom and dad, and sister and daughter. We had TONS of food and enjoyed a day of eating, playing cards, and napping.
And what would Thanksgiving weekend be without a little Friday shopping? As I started planning my post- Thanksgiving shopping, I was once again taken back to my childhood. I remember going shopping with my parents and my aunts and uncles during Thanksgiving weekend. I don't think they called it Black Friday back then. Stores might have opened early but back then early was 8am because we didn't have stores with such long hours or 24 hour stores. We used to spend all day going from store to store. My favorite spot was the Richman Gordman. They had this really cool play place in the back. It was made out of huge animals that you could play on and in. There was this elephant that you slid down its trunk. And as I think about it, I think you climbed stairs up his backside. That makes me giggle now, but back then I probably didn't even notice. My cousins and brother and I would play back there for hours while our dads "watched" us and our mothers shopped their hearts out. If we were good, we would get slushies from KMart later in the day. Those were great weekends spent with family. I am so glad to have those happy memories.
This years Friday shopping started when I decided to be insane and go to Toys R Us for their midnight sale. I asked Brandon to go with me for support and company and he agreed. We arrived at the store at 11:10 and got in line . . . outside . . . about four store fronts down from the Toys R Us entrance. Crazy! By midnight, the line had wrapped around the strip mall, it was proabably about 2 city blocks long. Brandon and I though were able to sweep in, get out goods, and get out within about 30 minutes saving me about $200 on some big Christmas items. We stopped at Walmart then to go to the bathroom and roamed around for a bit. There were already folks in line at 1am for sales that did not start until 5am. That is some dedication. We decided we were more in love with sleeping and we went home. I did hit the local Target and Kohls on Friday before the door busters ended but the crowds were thinned by then so all was good.
Our Thanksgiving weekend was completed with a day of bowling on Saturday, and some Christmas decorating on Sunday. It was a great time and I hope that my children are able to remember their Thanksgiving past with a smile as I do.