This is Sparta or Thanksgiving!!

~ Through hardship came strength, and as a result of pain I found joy. Through suffering came gratitude, and by letting go I found my path and purpose.~

 The Turkey day is here, right here but we are having ham and NO pies I knew I should have baked up the pumpkin's that we got for 25 bucks a pickup load. I was too lazy and pumpkin pie doesn't seem so popular maybe next week when the masses are gone. 
 When I was a kid we would be loading up into the car a 1963 ford falcon with pies and goodies to take to the great's house on the river. It was a big adventure by looking at Google maps it say's 11 whole miles in those day's it was more like 18 miles there wasn't a strait shot down the highway like it is now with a modern divided highway. We would all arrive with mom,grandma and me to be greeted by the cousin's and their children most of which were younger than I was. The feasting would start with breakfast of ham, bacon, oysters, pancakes, biscuit's and sausage gravy and an abundance of egg's and toast. We would lolly gag through the table's of treats and about the time you made it through your plate the vegetable/ cracker/cheese platters would show up on the table with a few gallons of orange juice, soda and four or five bottles of booze it was after all approaching noon. The kids would all sit on great grandpa's lap one by one and say our what for's and he would laugh and giggle while pulling  a half dollar out of your ear. All grandpa's should be able to pull money out of your head it should be a requirement. We would play on the floor while the adults would chit chat about uncle Audie's ranch an the new cow's due in a few weeks, crops and the forest areas he would haul his cattle up to. The business of building in the Tri Cities and what new projects would be built in the next year or what was being finished up. The cousins would brag about how well their older children were doing in school and sports and us younger children would ask to go out to the pond and just look. My great would herd us littler kids out to the pond and show us the iced over water where in the spring the fingerling trout would be placed to be released to the Yakima river. We would look over the pheasant boxes where the eggs would hatch out in the spring to be released. We really didn't see anything wild but our imagination would be filled with what was to come. We would gaze at the cow's in the small pasture by the road and then go back into the house to a cup of warm cider and wait for what seemed forever till dinner was served. We would all be called to the table and set in our place while we watched great grandpa' carve the turkey and hold our plate up to get a few slices of what would be the best turkey, stuffing and cranberries, eating like it was the first food we had all day. After the main course we would get a piece of homeade pie I would have mince meat made with the canned moose that the adult's had gotten on their annual trip to British Columbia. The adult's would pour a large dram of Canadian mist whiskey and sit in the front room with the fireplace going and all would rejoice about what a great day it was to have family and friends around. The family had come a long way to where it was, leaders of the community and industry in the area. I look back on the past with fond memory's how the family would come together and triumph the obstacles that had been placed before them. The large family gatherings ended in 1974 with the passing of Great Grandpa' Murray he was a pioneer who came out west with his family. I will admire him and what he had given us all. The family's would each have their own Thanksgiving in their own homes and each would invite the other but no one would really get together like in the past. Now the cousin's have their own family's and extended family's they have gone on to have their own traditions but I hope they can still remember the past and the good times we all shared in those early years. 
 I hope this finds your family together if nothing else but in spirit. And a large heart felt thanks to my daughter I love her and miss her but am so thankful to have her in my heart and to have the early memories of her at Thanksgiving.