...Want for Thanksgiving?

What Do You Want for Thanksgiving?

One of our Thanksgiving traditions includes asking everyone attending what special dish they would like to have included on the menu.  Coming from a large family, individual tastes vary.  Finances, time, and a sense of necessary boundaries prohibit such an indulgence most of the year; however, for Thanksgiving, those rules are relaxed a bit.  We have some never-changing items, such as turkey, cornbread dressing, oyster dressing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and broccoli and cheese casserole, but the rest of the menu is individualized.

Requests for specific dishes usually begin weeks out for anyone who is not a first time guest.  Dishes will range from sweet to savory with a little bit of everything in between.  Even the younger children get in on asking for their favorites, from the chocolate thing with the white stuff on top to trees with cheese on top (translated:  the broccoli with cheese on it).  Friends who have attended for years put their requests in, as well, often offering to bring regional treats.  Everyone brings take-home dishes, and the bounty is divided after the feast.

As our sons grew older and began dating, they often brought their girlfriends to the meal.  However, the girls were never asked for their favorites; never, that is, until the first Thanksgiving after they had stood beside our sons, vowing to love, honor, and obey, as long as they both should live.  I can still remember sitting down to begin planning the menu for that family meal.  As I wrote down each name, knowing which dish many would request, the sudden thought of a new name hit me.  At first, the thought hurt just a tiny bit, as I realized all that the new name of a daughter-in-love entailed…  I was no longer the first lady in the life of my sons.  However, with each son’s wife came new family, new traditions, new hope, new promises, and new belonging.  Nicole and Melissa became, as Ephesians 1:6 says, accepted in the beloved!  Because they are loved by my sons who are beloved to me, they are now accepted and loved by me.

I am so grateful that there was a time in my life when the precious Son of God secured a place at the table for me.  Thanksgiving overwhelms my heart, as I know that God Himself has declared me accepted in the Beloved.  As joy flooded my heart, I picked up the phone, called those precious girls, and asked, "has our son told you about our family and Thanksgiving?  What do you want for Thanksgiving!"

© 2010 Gerry Sisk

(11/10/10)