THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS

Traditionally, Thanksgiving was always celebrated with my large extended family. Although the last of my grandmother's generation was laid to rest more than 20 years ago, my mother and her cousins kept the family traditions alive until recently.

Fond memories of a relative's home redolent with the roasting turkey lurk in the back of my mind. The white linen table cloth set with the good china, crystal, and silver. The kitchen abuzz with the cousins making gravy, mashing potatoes, and carving turkey. The various dishes contributed by the family members attending the feast. In the days when I was in elementary school, there was an adult table and a kids table. It was a long wait for food because serving dishes were first past to the adults and then to the kids. Later, when my grandmother's generation passed the hosting down to my mother's generation, the meal was served buffet-style. Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings included turkey, at least one kind of stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, squash puff, creamed onions, corn, a jello salad, some type of dinner rolls, and finished up with pumpkin pie.

This year, however, new traditions have been created. Dinner was still at my mother's, but it was not the large extended family. Instead, we feasted with my oldest son and his girlfriend and her two boys, my youngest son, and my husband: in all we were only a total of eight - a far cry from the 25 to 30 family members that gathered when I was a kid. Instead of a golden bird decorating the table, a beef roast with gravy and cheesy overnight potatoes filled the bill of fare.

But, although some things have changed, I am thankful that I have raised two descent boys, that I have a loving, wonderful husband, that my mother is still a vibrant lady, and that I have a job, a roof over my head, and food in my fridge.