Throwback Thursday #17 - Thanksgivings past

Thanksgiving has never been a huge family holiday for me. Christmas is when my mom's family always gets together and has a big dinner together, so I've celebrated Thanksgiving in several various ways over the years. Here are just a few highlights, with photos where I have any to help illustrate.

• When I was a child, we used to go to my dad's sister's house for Thanksgiving dinner. She made the best turkey I have ever had before or since. We stopped going when she moved to Atlanta when I was in high school. For several years after that, my mom would make a small turkey breast, I think. I don't really remember.
  
  
• During my college and single days, I remember going various places for Thanksgiving. My dad and (former) stepmom hosted it at least once at their house. I went to my stepmom's brother's house one year. My mom has gone to my cousin's house since my parents split up and I know I've gone at least once or twice with her.
  
  
• One Thanksgiving that stands out is from 1995, when I got my wisdom teeth taken out the day before. I figured that the 4-day break would let me recover without having to take any additional sick days off. Which worked fine, but made for a fairly miserable Thanksgiving for me that year.
  
  
• Another one that I remember was the year that I had first met Ron, just a month or so before Thanksgiving. He'd invited me to dinner with his family, but I was horribly sick so couldn't go. I made sure that Ron went - no point in both of us missing it, so I sat home alone, bored and feeling miserable. Ron's mom sent a plate back for me so I did at least get some leftovers.
  
  
• The only time I've ever hosted Thanksgiving dinner was in 2001. Ron's parents had sold their house and the new one wasn't ready yet so they were staying with friends. We offered our new house for Thanksgiving dinner. But even though I technically hosted, Ron's mom did pretty much all of the cooking. :)
  
  
• Thanksgiving of 2002 was a very low-key one. I was scheduled to be induced to deliver our second baby (Hannah) the next morning and my doctor had grounded me from leaving town. We had no family or close friends where we lived and I was in no mood to cook any kind of a dinner, so we ate Thanksgiving dinner at Perkins that year. At least I was able to have turkey though! :)
  
  
• The next memorable Thanksgiving was a couple of years ago. We drove up to Ron's parents' house (they now live about an hour north of us, in the absolute middle of nowhere). Abby was 5, Hannah was just 3 and I was 7 months pregnant with Becca. It had snowed pretty heavily and the dirt road that Ron's parents live on had a lot of drifted snow on it. So of course, our van got stuck. Ron's dad tried to pull us out with his truck, but ended up just shuttling us to the house instead. He and Ron spent all afternoon digging our van out and missed dinner. They did eat when they finally got back and we headed out shortly after that to try and get home before it got too dark. We drove out in a different direction, that was supposed to be easier to traverse. Nope, no such luck - we quickly found ourselves stuck in the snow again. In the middle of nowhere. With 2 small kids. And it was getting dark.
  
  Ron's dad was called again but still had no luck pulling us free. Thankfully (pun intended!) we had gotten stuck right in front of an Amish farm. And the farmers helped shovel our wheels free and then used a team of horses to pull our van out of the snow drift. We offered them the cherry pie that Ron's mom had sent home with us as a way to thank them, but they refused. The whole rest of the way back, whenever we had to stop for a red light or stop sign, Abby would ask fearfully, "are we stuck in the snow again?"

Here's the only photo that I can find right now that I know for sure is from a Thanksgiving. This is from the year that we got stuck - the girls spent most of the afternoon dancing with this giant, life-sized, singing and dancing Santa that Ron's mom had gotten for some reason:


I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving today! We are headed up to Ron's parents - there is snow in the forecast, but hopefully no heavy drifting! :)

Check out more Throwback Thursday over at Pinks and Blues Girls!