Exploration 1: Thanksgiving

Today, instead of writing about my breakfast or lunch from the past two days - neither of which were very exciting, I'm going to talk about my first Southern Thanksgiving.

We arrived at our Aunt's house just in time to help her set up the second table and complete the small odds and ends that needed to get done before the bulk of the family arrived. The woman whom I call my aunt isn't really my aunt. In fact, I just met her shortly after arriving into Georgia. My sister grew up with her kids and has always seen her as a second mom. Considering we are so far from home, she adopted us into her family. She's an extremely good-hearted woman, married to a wonderfully, good-hearted man so I, we, couldn't have been more fortunate.

Then my oldest niece took me and a family friend on a tour of the farm. Back in Nevada, I grew up on a ranch filled with horses and cattle. We raise cattle for beef; feeding America. lol So being out in the country isn't something that I was unfamiliar with, but contrasting ranch and farm is something I've always wanted to do.

The tour was great as it included horses, cows, goats, chickens, roosters, rabbits (which may have been by chance and not really "part of the farm"), donkey and pigs. There was also a beautiful turkey that watched us roam the property. Apparently it is a wild turkey, but instead of killing it, the family decided to feed it and over the years became a farm pet. It's presence made a nice touch being it Thanksgiving and all.

Dinner was served shortly after and some 18 of us gathered around a table to share a meal together. At my grandma's house the table is normally small enough we can dish ourselves out or ask something to be passed. With a Thanksgiving as large as this one, plates would show up in front of us and we'd take turns scooping whatever was in front of us onto the plate and then send it on its way. Somehow the chaotic way of dishing out worked. We all ended up with our original plates and with all the wonderful delights.

With the exception of one or two plates that managed to miss something. Mine....the cranberry. People dog on cranberry, but I love it - even if it's out of the can. Although, I have had fresh cranberry sauce and it really is better.

As I stated in my last entry, considering it was my first Southern Thanksgiving and probably, hopefully my last Thanksgiving as a meat-consuming human, I might as well enjoy it to the fullest. I set my dietary preferences aside and dug in.

It was all so delectable.

I haven't placed much emphasis on this holiday, but truthfully I've had a great track record of wonderful memories associated with this time of year. (I do not like Christmas.) My first Thanksgiving away from home was during my freshman year of college, while attending the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I was invited to my friend's parent's house just outside the city, the West's. This is where I first tried green-bean casserole. Apparently every house across America incorporates it into their holiday means except for mine. It was my favorite and have come to love it to this day.

Starting in 2006 when I moved to Oklahoma City. I was fortunate to have so many close-friends that branched from working in the restaurant industry. The entire time I was in Oklahoma, about six years, I was blessed with having more than one home open their doors to me and invite me over. My friends were my family since my family wasn't in the immediate area and going home was never an option due to finances and when school started - time restraints. I didn't like the idea of declining invitations and I loved the idea of eating and being around people, so I made a sport of out of it.

I'd wake up early and map out my day, making sure I could hit every house for a good period of time before moving on. I think one year I managed to make it to six house before I was stuffed beyond stuffed and it was late and nearly bedtime. Of course, I wasn't ready to go to bed - I'd typically drag myself to the gay bars to have a "few" drinks or, if I really was tired, across the street to the nearby dive bar.

One of my most fond memories was during that same time frame of hitting up multiple Thanksgiving dinners, I was invited to a Lebanese dinner that was held at their family church. The spirit was Thanksgiving was the same, but the food was completely different. No turkey. All traditional middle-eastern food. It was lovely. Afterward, we all enjoyed coffee (which came in tea cups because it was no joke) then passed our coffee grounds to the grandmother so she could read our futures.

I didn't swirl mine right or something because she said she couldn't make heads or tails out of it. Just my luck! lol

When my time in college ended, that first Thanksgiving after, I remember missing the planning and the bouncing around and all the memories that one day could generate with so many people.

But in that, I found the blessings in spending an entire day with family.

So this Thanksgiving was no different. Same family, but not technically my family. Which is okay because I intend to make Georgia my home for quite sometime so they are my family now. I just love them and look forward to making many more memories with them as I did sharing in the ones created yesterday.

As for dessert, there were so many desserts. If I stopped while I was ahead, I would have been fine. But I ended up having three desserts: pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and a thing called a whoopy-pie. I've never had one so the family insisted I try it. It tasted like pumpkin pie, but in a cookie form, almost like an Oreo cookie, with the cream in the center. But yet, it had the memories of Christmas in it. It was really quite magical.

After we let our stomachs settled and cleaned up the kitchen, we moved the family outside to enjoy a bonfire. Lawn chairs were brought out, small chairs for the kidos, and we just enjoyed the transition from day to night with stories, laugher, pictures, music, and conversation.

As Aunt Judy sat, enjoying the ambiance, she said to her husband, Uncle Dave, "This was just a perfect Thanksgiving. I can't remember a Thanksgiving more perfect than this."

To which he said, "It was a very good Thanksgiving."

I strongly agree. Yes it was, yes it was. <3