A Thankful Heart

Father, please accept our thanks today as round this table here we pause to pray;  Our grateful hearts are warmed as we recall 'tis from Thy bounty that our blessings fall.  This gladsome feast with loved ones now to share is but a measure of Thy tender care.
                                                                                                          Eleanor Lyons Culver


What a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Klotz home.  Caitlin, Connor, Ahlden, Megan, Grandmother Barbara, Megan(my niece) and Rob (Megan's boyfriend) were all here to pass the 'thankful spoon" around the table.  There is never a dull moment when it comes to my family...the stories and 'sharings' at the table were very interesting and maddening at times, but we were together as a family and that is what counts.  Poor Grandmother Barbara never got a word in...she sat quietly and listened with an amazed look on her face at times. After dinner, the guys played pool and the girls painted their fingernails as we all watched The Grinch.   I made all of my grandmother's recipes and every year I still get a smile on my face as I remember Thanksgiving at my grandparent's home.  I always looked forward to the food and I couldn't wait to see all of my cousins, but more importantly... to see what table I would be sitting at that year.  The Shankle clan was such a large family and there would be at least 25 of us at any holiday feast.  There was a kiddy table, a teenager table, and of course, the Adult table.  I graduated every table to get to the Adult table and you would have thought that I had won the lottery when I finally got there. We were not a perfect family and certainly had our moments with each other, but we always came together during the holidays and made some wonderful and lasting memories.  I am thankful for those memories and blessed to have my own family to share the holidays with.