Written November 28, 2024
Hello Dear Readers,
I’ve always loved Thanksgiving Day. It’s a holiday that stirs nostalgia, bringing back memories of family gatherings from my childhood. Over the years, the table has grown fuller as we’ve added spouses, nieces, and nephews to the mix, making the celebration even more special. My wife and I will visit my sister’s house this year to enjoy the holiday together.
We usually bring food for the party so we do not have to host everyone. I typically bake two pies for Thanksgiving: an apple pie and a pumpkin pie. For today, I baked two pies on Tuesday and Wednesday. It should be a lot of fun and delicious food.
Our main dish will be a brined, smoked, and roasted turkey. My brother-in-law has undoubtedly been smoking the turkey since at least this morning if he didn’t start last night. During COVID-19, he could not watch sports events on TV or go out to meet people, so he picked up this new hobby: cooking. He’s become quite the chef over the last couple of years. He always does substantial research online to prepare for making anything. Over time, he’s learned to make the dish he imagines.
My wife is incredibly excited to see our niece. She has been quite busy doing many projects and only had time for something else for several months. She said she wanted to see our niece. She is happy to live near her niece so she can see her for a big event like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or birthdays. Though we saw her just a couple of weeks ago at my wife’s citizenship ceremony, she’s growing up in the blink of an eye.
We’ll get to eat a lot of good food around this time. Living in Portland, we had to celebrate most of our holidays with just the two of us. I remember that we ended up eating turkey the following week. So this is another good thing about family gatherings like this. We spread the leftovers so we don’t have to eat the leftovers for several days.
Family holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas remind me of the joy of coming together. It’s not just about the food, though that’s always amazing; it’s about the shared laughter, stories, and the warmth of being surrounded by the people who matter most. As we grow older, we have additions like our spouses, nieces, or nephews, so the family feast improves. I can’t wait to celebrate this feast with everyone and create new memories together.