Counting down as we go Over the river and through the woods, 4...3...

The aroma of the pumpkin pie - even though it is a Costco special, and the presence of the turkey, and the ingredients for the dressing brings the senses to an awareness that a special holiday is almost upon us.

This song of Over the river and through the woods by the Chipmonks reminds me of many over the highway and through the byway along the river we went to Bob's mom's house for Thanksgiving. The car knew the way because it had followed the same road many times before that day. It was cold and sometimes snowy as we made our journey north from Kentucky to Illinois. It took three hours and we tried to leave early and in those days of my youth, getting everyone ready to go was a snap and even leaving early didn't challenge my energy and ambition.

As you may imagine traveling with four kids at any age for any distance is no picnic but the reward was at the end of the road when we reached my mother-in-law's house. She would have many homemade pies of all flavors - whatever your flavor it was there. She made homemade yeast rolls and the aroma of the rolls smacked you upside your brain's smelling sensors the minute you opened the front door. She was an outstanding cook so it would go without saying the turkey was magnificent as was all of the side dishes. There was plenty of room for lots of people at her dinner table and lots of room to spread out.

It was typical for us to want to take a nap after eating the banquet meal but as was in those days, the women did the dishes while the men did get to nap. It was worth it just to be able to get up and away from the table and move around. I never minded helping with the dishes because it was an honor to be at her table on this special holiday.

There's only my family left to come to the dinner table at our home. Sometimes I cook those yeast rolls like my mother-in-law did, but I don't do the pies but have my own special desserts instead. My in-laws passed away some years ago, as did my own parents. We do give thanks for them before we indulge in our blessings on Thanksgiving.

There's no over the river and through the woods to get to our home because everyone except Suz lives here already. How time changes. We've almost regressed backward in time when whole families lived together due to the economy such as it was during the depression. Our country has not gotten quite that bad off yet. If you had been to Costco today you would wonder how anyone could even imagine there was a stock market problem. You had difficulty finding a parking spot and our Costco has a huge parking lot. The store was packed and everyone's basket was packed full with food. Amazing.

Tomorrow I will start pre-preparing some things so I'm not working so hard on Thursday. I hope you all are well. Sending you best wishes and prayers. Do take care and keep safe.