When my parents lived in the United States, my mother loved to decorate and cook a full Thanksgiving meal. Having lived in South Africa, she was an avid yard sale fanatic, and she dragged me to many yard sales on Saturday mornings, looking for another's trash that she could turn into a treasure. On one such adventure, my mother found a collection of ceramic Thanksgiving ornaments, figurines that depicted the pilgrims and Native Americans together. She made sure my husband told the Thanksgiving story at each Thanksgiving meal. She would look tenderly at those figurines which she had carefully arranged on our dining table.
My mother-in-law loved Thanksgiving as well. Following our traditional Thanksgiving dinners, the guys were usually stuffed and wanted nothing more than to curl up on the couch and watch a variety of football games. My mother-in-law had her own traditions, however, and she took the liberty of reminding us of her tradition before anyone left the dinner table to wander off to other pursuits. The tradition was simply this: everyone at the table, young and old alike, had to take a turn reflecting on the year and saying aloud what they were truly thankful for. Both of these special ladies in my life have passed away and are no longer with us, and although thinking about the memories they created can be painful due to the sadness of not having them with us, my heart is filled with gratitude for the intentional moments they created with our family — traditions which we still carry on today.
For many, Thanksgiving is a time to prepare an enormous and delicious meal, catch up with family we haven't seen in a while, and, in many cases, watch football or toss around the pigskin in the backyard. For others, Thanksgiving is merely a warm-up to the Christmas season. Others will spend this uniquely American holiday by themselves; if they are lucky, they may receive a phone call from family or friends. But Thanksgiving doesn't have to be restricted only to family. Both my mother and my mother-in-law treasured the times we invited others to join us around our dinner table — friends with nowhere to go, or international students from Lee University who would be stuck in their dorm rooms after most students had left to spend the holiday with family. The beauty of the holiday came from sharing with others who could never repay the favor. These memories resound in my heart — the joy of allowing our guests to join our tradition by expressing aloud what they were thankful for and meditating on God's goodness and grace to all of us.
So, whether we find ourselves with a table full or all alone, remember the real reason for this beautiful season of Thanksgiving. Even if you are alone, send a text, pick up the phone or tell someone, especially a stranger — that you're thankful for them.
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