Thanksgiving (or "Thank Heaven for Little Girls")

My first Thanksgiving as a grandma. For some reason, the song "Over the River and Thru the Woods" comes to mind. It's my favorite holiday--all the food there is to eat with none of that gift-giving getting in the way of eating. The day started a little sunny, which just isn't a typical Thanksgiving day in Indiana. But before we ate at 12:30, the skies were gray and the windows steamed up from all the cooking and baking. Perfect. Just like Granny C's Thanksgivings, where we'd arrive to find noodles drying on a TV tray on the screened porch, and the windows all steamy from the morning of cooking. It was always gray and dreary outside, which made for a wonderful entrance into Granny's warm, aromatic home.

We had all the traditional food...turkey, dressing, Rita's homemade noodles, two kinds of sweet potatoes, real mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, Waldorf salad, cranberry relish, garden corn, and rolls. I made my famous pumpkin pies and peanut butter pies for dessert. The entire family was there, except for my husband who was joining his family. Mark said "Grace" and added his usual prayer for our troops.

The granddaughters enjoyed their first Thanksgiving with their new family. The youngest thinks nobody compares to Uncle Bobby, and the oldest has a special bond with Aunt Rita. But if you ask them whose girl they are, invariably they'll say they're everyone's girls. Such sweethearts. I can't imagine how hard their young lives had been up until the time they arrived at my daughter and son-in-law's. I can't imagine how children can be so resilient. Sure, there are times in everyone's childhood when things aren't what they should be. A little of that is fine--it teaches you that life is what it is--a mixture of good and bad. But it shouldn't be all bad.

So this past Thanksgiving for the first time ever...I thanked God for steering these precious girls our way.