Thanksgiving Day

Anticipation builds and 

our hunger prevails, not  

just for the food but for  

all of the loved ones gathering. 

 

We love being with everyone  

who has gathered together  

as a family today - even our 

friends and guests on this day 

are family just the same! 

 

Some years we gather in 

our own home, some years 

we gather in other family  

homes, but wherever it is  

it is still a Thanksgiving Day  

a day to give thanks and  

a day to be together. 

 

Talking goes on in the living  

Room, while in the kitchen  

the full scale operation is well  

on its way to getting the meal  

all together so we might focus  

on the day. In the dining room,  

the dishes are being set with great 

care and adoration. Dishes for this,  

and dishes for that, some having  

been passed down through time 

and many through many generations. 

 

Early today, at the crack of dawn,  

the stuffing, or dressing, or filling,  

was made.  No matter what you  

call it, it was and placed in the turkey 

in both the cavities of the chest  

and of the neck - sewed up carefully  

with a heavy string.  It was placed  

in the oven where cooking and 

roasting brought it to sheer  

perfection – making us drool.   

 

Basting and basting, lifting the lid, 

the house was all full of aroma. 

Our mouths all watered it smelled 

so good, none of us could wait any more. 

 

There are potatoes and gravy,  

corn and green beans, succotash  

and candied, sweet potatoes   

all being cooked and nursed on 

the stove.  There are cranberry  

sauce, and cranberry relish,  

being placed in fancy crystal dishes  

for all of us to see. 

 

Everything makes its way to 

the table; and everyone follow, too. 

 

A prayer is said by someone there, 

maybe dad or mom, or the host of  

the home.  The food is blessed as  

are all gathered here.  We even 

remember those not with us. 

 

The prayer, having been said,  

the big knife comes out and  

we slice the bird till it’s gone.  

All talking soon stops as the mouths 

are all full, only ooooos and  

ahhhhs, and mmmms escape. 

 

We all leave the table,  

some clean, and some sit, all  

awaiting to eat the pies.   

There is apple and pumpkin,  

pecan, and peach, and even  

wet bottom shoo-fly pie.  Some  

have fresh brewed coffee,  

some have hot teas and others  

rely on plain milk. 

 

But all in all, our day is made  

up of togetherness and  

conversation.  We’ve all enjoyed  

the happiness and reminiscing  

that comes from our families  

getting together and sharing 

and giving thanks.  This is what 

Thanksgiving Day means to us. 

Written by The Villa Poets, residents of Victorian Villa / Dallastown Nursing Center, York County, Pennsylvania - written in round-robin fashion (one resident adds a line or two as we go around the group).