Happy Thanksgiving!

Later this afternoon my family will gather together for a Thanksgiving feast of turkey and ham and all the fixings.

For the first time, we’re going to try a peanut butter and cream cheese pie with an Oreo crust — a dessert that must be a diabetics’ nightmare!

New things are dangerous around the old homestead — I joke my wife’s family motto is once you do something once — just once — it becomes a tradition.

I guess I must be one of the elders in the family now, but at the holidays I always pause to remember those departed ones who came before, those who were the elders of my youth.

I wish I had a time machine, and I could return to those days of yesteryear when our mothers thawed the turkey in the sink and filled the bird with stuffing that would be served on grandma’s  finest China. Those precious moments exist only in memory today, but what would I give to relive them now, to hug my mother once again and taste her southern style of cooking? Just for a moment.

Today I am thankful for those memories, for this wonderful life God has given me, for the abundance He has bestowed upon me, for my family, my loved ones and my friends galore, for the fellowship at my church, for the opportunity to live in the greatest country the world has ever known despite our political division and bickering.

I wish each and every one of you a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving. Safe travel to all who are traveling.

May God bless you, your family and our great land today.

And thanks for reading LassenNews.com, too.