A Pumpkin Day

The week of Thanksgiving has arrived here in the U.S.

This is possibly, probably -- heck, it is, my favorite holiday! If someone could turn the rpms or the mphs to "slow," I'd be grateful. I'd like this week to last. I don't want to miss a moment of it by rushing here and there.

I'd like to see this holiday through the eyes of a child. I remember watching Grammie Teele placing one serving dish after another on the cloth covered holiday table that was just about the height of my eye-sight. I'd walk around the chairs and peak from every angle wondering what was in each covered steaming dish.

I'd touch the cloth napkins and see the sparkle on the crystal goblets and the shine of the holiday silverware. I listened to the clanging, clinking, and occasional banging of pans in the kitchen. The aromas coming from that room were tantilizing, and if I was more than hungry, they made the wait torturous.

Once we were all invited to find our place at Grammie's big oval wood table, I'd sit there barely able to see over the serving dishes. Even though I was a participant, a family member, my memory tells me I was only an observer. As kids at the table, we were to be "seen and not heard" and we were to "clean our plates" and it was rude not to "eat everything" that was placed on that plate.

Somehow all of that -- a house filled with people talking, food cooking, and a fire roaring -- now brings good feelings. They are favorite memories. Those are the times I felt the most secure, I thought life was good, and we'd all live happily ever after.

And I guess we have. Some of our pages contain stories we wouldn't have written; at least with hindsight, we wouldn't have, but overall I'm just so thankful and if I started listing what I am thankful for, my list would be long.

Next week at this time we'll be about to pull the window shade to wake-up the next morning facing a new holiday season (one that I absolutely love -- but then, I love most all of them). But before we move into green and red and gold and everything that sparkles . . . I want to savor this autumn harvest Thanksgiving holiday week.

So all the autumn decorations at church this morning seemed like a good place to point my camera and click.

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol

P.S. Rain poured while we were in church this morning. The open-beam A-frame building amplified the song of the rain; it was lovely. By the time we walked out of church the storm had moved on. This afternoon I've graded student papers and watched huge white puffy clouds dance across the sky.