Comments on: What is your favorite Thanksgiving memory?

By: FrankC

FrankC — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 06:58:05 +0000

The best were when I was 5-6 at my Grandfather’s home with all my cousins.

Some of my Christmas memories are not so nice and some were okay.

By: Jody

Jody — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:45:52 +0000

Mom was of the mindset ” We are all going to get together and we WILL enjoy it, dammit.”

Oh well.

By: Jody

Jody — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:41:58 +0000

When my Uncle Dale got divorced over 50…hell probably over 60 years ago, he put his two daughters up for adoption…they were 5 and 6.

No one ever talked about it so I never got the full story.

By: alcaray

alcaray — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:26:14 +0000

Well to backtrack. My dad was a paranoid schizophrenic, and an alcoholic. He had issues getting along with anyone in the outside world. He had issues getting along with family members that we did not see often, too. In particular, he was out of his mind about my mom’s family. They were part of the John Birch Society/police/government conspiracy to keep him under surveilance and to… not sure how it went exactly, but I’m certain they did terrible bad things (in his reckoning). Every year at holidays, it was normal for my father to get the flu and not attend (which was actually a relief because it meant that the long ride would not be filled with my dad ranting about something, or belittling my mom). Anyhow…

There was one Thanksgiving at my mom’s brother’s house that my dad attended (I cannot explain how this came to pass – I don’t recall that part of the story). Now my dad, at times, had a great sense of humor. And on this particular gathering he did some clowning and had everyone in tears with laughter, at the TG table. There was some real warmth passed around, from my mom’s family to my dad. And my dad felt it. And it just made me glow inside, because it was like things were normal and happy and ok.

By: ER

ER — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 19:23:42 +0000

Good food and lots of it. Sometimes when you’re operating alone you quickly run out of fresh vegetables, and have to rely on canned goods and powdered milk and eggs. But there’s a lot of frozen meat below on the reefer decks, and they’re not stingy with it. They bake fresh bread every day, too. I can still remember the smell of it being carried throughout the ship by the ventilation system. It could wake you up from a sound sleep.

And when you get replenished underway by a supply ship (UNREP)or if there’s a carrier nearby, there’s plenty of fresh chow. No complaints from this sailor. I stuffed myself, and couldn’t seem to gain weight.

Of course, nowadays, everything is probably low cal and heart-healthy. Morale is probably lower than the cholesterol level.

By: bowser

bowser — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 19:21:12 +0000

I remember the same thing. And especially one funny incident.

And 40 years ago I was the only one obviously drunk, to everyone’s chagrin. The last complete get-together I was the only one sober, which I thought was ironic.

And now they are all dead, all my peers, anyway.

I remember travelling to my brother-in-laws relatives for one Thanksgiving. His family was quite religious, involving some fundamentalist sect, I don’t know which one. It was a large group, and I was seated with two of his older sisters and someone else at a small table. One of them asked if I was married, and I replied I was divorced. That didn’t sit well.

They mentioned that divorce was hard on children. I said it was especially hard on mine. It’s hard on all of them, one of them said. I said I thought mine may have suffered more. They all suffer.

“Well, mine had to sit through the court proceedings and hear it all, as the attorneys bashed both my wife and me over custody. It was difficult for them.”

“That’s hard for all kids”, one of them said.

“Yeah, but in our case neither one of us wanted them, and they had to listen to all of that.”

The oldest one looked across the table at me for a second, picked up her plate, and said “You are the meanest man on Earth” as she left the table.

Later she apparently found out the truth, and both sisters would sit next to me at all family affairs, apparently awaiting an encore.

One of my favorite moments.

By: RobVG

RobVG — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 19:04:41 +0000

I’ve heard the guys in the Navy eat very, very well. True? n/t

By: ER

ER — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:49:26 +0000

I was sitting on a bollard on the helo deck, starboard side, facing the sunset, eating a very delicious Thanksgiving dinner (with all the fixin’s) off a paper plate.

My shipmate, who was eating with me, looked out to sea, towards the DMZ, just out of sight over the horizon.

“Just think”, he said, “Charlie’s out there, squatting in the bush, chowing down on a bowl of cold rice.”

I won’t say its my favorite Thanksgiving memory, but its the one I remember most clearly.

By: RobVG

RobVG — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:09:36 +0000

Two long tables full of family members. n/t