Allison's Adventures in the Big Apple: Thanksgiving and memories

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday of the year. Sure Christmas equals presents and time off of school and the yuletide spirit and snow and my birthday (I suppose I consider that a holiday haha) is awesome. But Thanksgiving has always been about family for me. Christmas is about family too but somehow Thanksgiving has also been about family that isn't blood related but are just as much a part of my family as anyone else.

When I was little my parents and I would have Thanksgiving with Grandma Laura, the elderly lady that my mom met before I was born while volunteering for Silver Key. She was the first person to hold me who wasn't my parents or my grandparents after I was born and I grew up visiting her probably at least once a week if not more. Until she passed away I always remember on Thanksgiving my parents cooking food at our house and bringing it over to her house with us. We would bring everything one might need for a Thanksgiving meal. Except for the carrots, Grandma Laura was always in charge of the carrots and when she couldn't really stand up and cook them anymore my mom cooked them, but always under her supervision. I think I found out later that probably the reason they tasted so sweet and good was because they were cooked a long time and so basically all of the nutrients were cooked right out of them. ^_^ But of course when I was little I didn't care about any of that, I just knew they were the best carrots I ever had.

So anyway, I guess Thanksgiving will always be a reminder of Grandma Laura, which is one of the reasons I love it so much. After she passed away we started celebrating with family friends in Colorado and then after moving to Oregon, well the first couple of years we flew back to Colorado for Thanksgiving, but after becoming more settled we started celebrating with good family friends in Salem. Thanksgiving is the time to be with family :)

I think there has only been one Thanksgiving before this one that I have ever celebrated without my parents when I flew back to Colorado alone. Even when I was in Spain, Thanksgiving coincided with my parents' visit and so that year we got to celebrate twice: once in Spain with the school and then once when I got back with our friends. So this year it was so much fun when I was able to take the train down to DC to spend Thanksgiving with my cousins and my aunt and uncle. After all, Thanksgiving is a time to be with family :) And my family is just about as awesome as they come :)