The Different Types of Thanksgivings

Writing about Christmas travels and plans yesterday made me think about Thanksgiving and how over the years my Thanksgiving traditions have changed depending on where I was in life. It seems that Thanksgiving isn't as high status as Christmas and so you have a little more freedom to opt out if you'd like.

When I was a kid, Thanksgiving was hands down one of my favorite holidays. There were no costumes or presents, but there was Uncle Jack's house. And I don't really know what exactly the draw was, but it was there. I just loved going down to Uncle Jack's and Aunt Rita's every year. We may have visited them other times of year, I'm not sure. All I know is that I looked forward to Thanksgiving because it meant we got to go to Sycamore. Everyone was there too, which made for a loud and packed house. That was probably part of the fun for me. For some reason, I equate loud with fun. Must have something to do with growing up in a large family.

As I got older, maybe high school age or so, we stopped going to Sycamore for Thanksgiving. I don't know why, but I know Thanksgiving suddenly lost its excitement for me. It just wasn't the same. So when I moved away for college, I opted out of the Thanksgiving-come-home-from-school break. Instead I found some friends in town to celebrate with. Thanksgiving, once again became fun!

We had a "friends" Thanksgiving then for quite a few years. It was awesome. Larry and Mike opened up their home, we got really messy, cooked up some great food and just kicked it. It was the perfect way to prepare for the inevitable stresses that would be coming just a month later with Christmas. I don't remember how many years we did the friends Thanksgiving for, but it was a great while it lasted.

Now that we've grown up and have our own little family, Thanksgiving is kind of up in the air. These last couple years, we've done one of our Christmas celebrations at Thanksgiving time and so have traveled. I would like to go back and do a friends Thanksgiving again, I just don't think that would work out as well with kids in the mix. So, for now, we're still figuring out this holiday.

**I actually just went back through my iPhoto library looking for some pics to add to this, but don't have any. The Sycamore Thanksgivings were before digital cameras and the Larry and Mike Thanksgivings were full of too much liquor to remember to take pictures!