thanksgiving
Day Before Thanksgiving 2025
Thanksgiving 2024
Previous Years
Thanksgiving 2023
Thanksgiving 2022
Wednesday Evening
Thanksgiving 2021
Thanksgiving for fifteen years always included Nana and Papa. We went to Nashville to visit Nana's brother our first Thanksgiving back in the States in 2005. Less than a year later, he'd passed away. We haven't been back to Nashville since.
From that point, we went to Papa's side of the family every year. There were various cousins, aunts, and uncles there -- never the same group -- but there were always two that never changed: Nana and Papa.
During our first Thanksgiving without Nana in 2019, we all went for a portrait and took Nana with us -- the wound was still raw for everyone, but especially Papa. His first Thanksgiving without Nana in forever.
This is our first Thanksgiving without either of them. The plan to go visit Aunt D, who helped take care of Nana when she first came back from rehab, fell through as did our plan to visit with cousins. Our Polish family from North Carolina -- family in all ways that count, at any rate -- had other plans for Thanksgiving, so we spent it just the four of us. Without turkey.
But with games. What's Thanksgiving without games?
Previous Years
Thanksgiving 2020
Thanksgiving 2019
Thanksgiving 2018
Thanksgiving 2017
Thanksgiving 2016
Thanksgiving 2015
Thanksgiving 2013
Thanksgiving 2012
Thanksgiving 2011
Family and Food: Thanksgiving 2010
Interrupted
Fourth Thursday
Thanksgiving Games
Thanksgiving 2006
Thanksgiving 2005
Pre-Thanksgiving 2021
It's been such an odd Thanksgiving Eve. The only thing I did today that was in line with every other day-before-T'giving was to mow. That only makes sense if you're in the south, I guess.
In the evening, the kids played chess. The Boy won the first game on time; that did not sit well with the Girl, who promptly paid more attention to her time management and checkmated him in the second game.
"She is so competitive," K said.
"But look at it this way," I said. "She could have pouted when he won and refused to play with him again. Instead, she was angry and wanted another shot."
The Day Before Thanksgiving
The day before the big day, which will be a small big day this year, started off with a little bit of a change: flu shots. I've never really been one for getting a flu shot, not because I don't believe in their efficacy but because I just never took the time. And I so rarely get sick that I think I'd lulled myself into a likely-false sense of security. But no more. Covid changes many things, my sense of security among them.
The rest of the day went by in a relative flash -- butternut squash soup, playing with the kids and the dog on the trampoline, a quick shopping trip to pick up last-minute items and a cigar for tomorrow evening (what's Thanksgiving without a cigar to put a bow on the day?), dinner, and then some family baking.
As we made pumpkin spice baklava, the Boy regaled us with select passages from Fox in Socks.
