(Food Memory) Those Thanksgiving Meals

      

       Food is a big part of my family traditions. Even at both houses my mom’s mom and my dad’s mom we always had a ton of food. When I was younger I always remember we would drive down to my grandma Peggy’s. (My dads mom.) Each memory I have that I can still remember we would always get in really late I don’t know why but we did. When you stepped inside the house has a clinging odor of smoke and food. There was always so many smells it was hard to say what each on was. The day of thanksgiving us kids would always be forced to go play outside because adults what to have alone time and no one was allowed into grandma Peggy’s kitchen accept for the moms. My cousin abbey and I would always sneak out back to our grandma’s bird cages and Koi pond. They were both so beautiful in their own rugged way I suppose. Before my grandma started to get sick she would paint a lot of her patio with her birds and her fish. Anyways, as I was saying the smells would seep out of the house and of course we knew by then like clockwork that dinner was about to be served. Kids always ate first even though the adults always made our plates for us given we were only 6 but still. You try to be independent anyways. So my grandma would have a whole feast lining the tables and counters, lot of family always came and ate enough that all us kids always got pushed to the floor to eat around the coffee table. We never minded though by then it was tradition and we were small so eating at the coffee table was a lot easier for us. PLUS we got to watch TV, what little grandma would allow. I don’t really remember the food specifically even though it doesn't seem like that long ago a lot of my memories have faded away and I can’t really remember many of them anymore except for the traditions. I wish my grandma was still alive, she was a wise woman and I wish she was still alive to give me advice today and to teach me her awesome cooking skills. After she was gone the family tradition meal stopped and we would all go years without seeing each other. I think she would have been disappointed in that, I know I am.