A Month of Thankfulness - November 25

 It's the night before Thanksgiving.  It is usually my favorite day of the year.   Really.

My friend Linda expressed my sentiments exactly.  The day (or night) before Thanksgiving is full of expectations and anticipation.  The expectations are just good ole family time with a dinner full of traditional foods.  There are no gifts.  There are no stresses (except that the food is prepared correctly). There is just family time.  

For me from our first Thanksgiving together to just a few years ago, it was also a celebration of the harvest being completed, safely, with all of the grain either at the elevator or in the bins at the farm.  It also meant that Gary would be home more in the evenings and we would have weekends together again (until girls basketball took over!).

There are so many memories of driving to Beloit to spend Thanksgiving with Grandpa and Grandma Ritchie.  Having Thanksgiving at Spring Meadows Farm was just the best.   The menu was perfect.   Family time was special.  And Friday was always shopping at Southern Park Mall.

After we were married those Thanksgivings changed a little.  At first we rotated between the drive to Wooster in November one year then staying in Medaryville the next and alternating Christmas as well.  After Megan's first Christmas we decided we wanted to stay at home for Christmas morning, so the scheduling changed again.  When girls basketball happened, and there were tournaments and games leading up to Thanksgiving and during Christmas break, then boyfriends and husbands entered into the picture and everything changed again.

And then there was the switch to hosting, which I shared in yesterday's thankfulness post.  

But I still like the night before.  

All of the prep.

Planning the menu.

Pulling out the traditional recipes.

Setting the tables with Thanksgiving decor and the 'good china' and 'good silverware' --- ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

Getting ready for a hot game of Tripoley, the official game of the Siemens Thanksgivings.

Brining the turkey and roasting it overnight.

Baking the ham.

Preparing Grandma's cranberry salad and Peggy Fife's sweet potato casserole.

So many memories.

So much for which to be thankful.

I have missed all of the prep work today, but I know we will be back in the routine next year.

Happy Thanksgiving.