HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Yes, it's Thanksgiving - at least for about another half-hour! We've just had a lazy day here around the house. Baked a chicken with all the traditional goodies - and ate enough to last us for at least a few days!

Started me thinking about Thanksgivings from my childhood. I remember driving from Charlotte to Durham to my Grandmothers' house for Thanksgiving dinner for years and years. Boy, could that lady cook!

There was always a turkey AND a ham. Mashed potatoes AND yams - both grown in her garden. Pecan and pumpkin pies - again from pecan trees in her yard and pumpkin vines in her garden. Green beans, corn and whatever other veggies she had either canned or frozen at their peak! And the cookies! There were probably at least 6 or 8 different kinds of cookies. Cakes made from scratch and banana pudding to die for!!

Once the table was set, we had better be dressed up - no jeans and tee-shirts at her dining room table - and spotlessly clean! That table would be groaning under the weight of all that food! The five in our family, Grandma & Grandpa, and anyone else who showed up were fed until we couldn't walk!

Once everything was cleaned up and put away - except the pies, cakes, pudding and cookies - most everyone would settle down in the "sun room" to watch football - between the warmth of the company and the warmth of the room, we rarely saw more than the first couple of plays . . . but we sure did get some good naps!

That was in the late 1950's and early 1960's. I hope there are still families out there doing it that way now. It was only a two hour drive back then. Our nearest son is 4 1/2 hours away - daughter is almost 8 hours and our other son is 9 hours! I guess that's what we get for living so far away. Ahhh, but we make up for it at other times of the year. We invade them and spoil the grandkids like crazy!