So here are some things I remember from Thanksgivings growing up and Thanksgivings grown up . . .
- My mom making pumpkin pie. (By the way, my mother turned 93 yesterday and she still plays tennis, writes books, and gives speeches. If that’s not something to be thankful for, nothing is.)
- Eating cold pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top while watching late Sunday afternoon football games between the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs. Charlie Jones or Curt Gowdy doing the play by play.
- The way cranberry sauce is one of the few foods in the world that takes on the shape of a cylindrical can.
- Sweet potatoes. With bananas. The only time of year I’ll eat them.
- Turkey sandwiches for the next six weeks.
- As a teenager, Thanksgiving was always the occasion of the National Indoor Tennis Tournament. So when I was 12 and 14, I went to Chicago with my dad (losing to Sy Fountaine in the 12s and Mark Mees in the 14s). When I was 17 and 18 the tournament was held at home in Dallas. I lost early when I was 17 and then got to the Round of 16 when I was 18, losing to Ben Testerman from Knoxville, TN, who went on to be a pretty good pro player.
- Once I got married, my mother-in-law’s stuffing. Crackers, sausages, and stuffing stuff. To die for.
- Going to Gatlinburg, TN in 1987 for our first ever Thanksgiving by ourselves. We had just moved to Kentucky so I could start at Asbury Seminary.
- These days, instead of going shopping the day after Thanksgiving, my little family always goes hiking on that Friday. Kings Mountain, Morrow Mountain, and the Catawba River have been our favorite destinations.