In honor of Kitchen Table Kibitzing's first Thanksgiving, I've asked community members to share their thoughts and pictures that have meaning to them. What follows is a melange of caring, poignancy and giving that makes this community special. Thank you to all who contributed. Please feel free to contribute your own in the comment threads.
From side pocket
This is our big holiday; we've had a huge gathering for more than 40 years and the guest list is on the third generation, now with grandkids. I brine the turkey and carve it. Much of the rest of the food is brought by the guests. We are expecting 20 guests today.
From belinda ridgewood
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I am grateful for what I am and have. … O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my bank can drain it, for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment.
~ Henry David Thoreau
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My restaurants are never opened on Thanksgiving; I want my staff to spend time with their family if they can. My feeling is, if I can't figure out how to make money the rest of the year so that my workers can enjoy the holidays, then I don't deserve to be an owner.
~ Michael Symon
From Sara R
"All My Relations"
Quilt
From nomandates
On this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful that four generations of my family were able to enjoy today together. We are so blessed.
Hugs and peace to my Kossack community.
nomandates
From Chrislove
For me, this Thanksgiving means celebrating my beautiful fur-daughter, my loving and supportive boyfriend, and my wonderful friends and family--both in real life and on the Great Orange Satan. :)
From rubyr
Thanks/Giving
Giving thanks for the golden bird that
Stars in the family hour of wonder
Heads bow and grace is delivered in
More than mounds and piles of food.
Glasses are lifted to smiles all around as
Everyone talks together and over each other
Not saying that this day is a cruel holiday
Celebratory of starvation, genocide.
Around the table we speak to those
Things we are grateful for. Three years ago,
Meg, dying of cancer, said she was grateful
To have learned that people are good, kind.
That was her grace and the last year she
Was with us, but her wonder smile lives on in
Sparkles spread over the tablecloth, laughter,
In champagne bubbling in fine, cut glasses.
That’s the Thanks – the Giving
Starts when each person with a golden bird
A sparkly tablecloth and fine wine gives some of
Such precious bounty – to those with none.
For remembrance and Remembrance of
Meg K.—nothing but beauty.
~rubyr 11/27/13
From Glen The Plumber
For Thanksgiving I resolve to no longer mercilessly tease people. Oh …wait, wrong holiday. Thank goodness, I would have never been able to keep that promise.
Seriously though, I have much love and respect for the Daily Kos community. Not only have I learned much here, but the way people jump to help each other is inspiring. Even spilling into real-life and becoming real-life friends. My family has felt the support firsthand.
So, I’m thankful my friends and family are all healthy. I’m thankful for my kos friends, the ones I’ve met in real-life and the ones I hope to. I’m thankful for nomandates and remembrance that created this little community inside the larger community. And always, I’m thankful for my wife and daughter both sweet and kind.
Peace and hugs to all.
From bastrop
Thanksgiving this year at the bastrop house is a sad one. Last week my wife lost her beloved uncle to a long and complicated battle with vascular disease after years of deterioration. He was a very kind and gentle person with a wonderful sense of humor and will be sorely missed. He is survived by his 15 year old son.
Uncle bastrop was Marine Force Recon assigned to Khe Sanh. One afternoon his unit was ambushed by North Vietnamese forces, resulting in the loss of every Marine except himself and another man. Both were seriously wounded in the legs and hips by machine gun fire and unable to walk. Through the rest of that day and into the night, Uncle bastrop kept the NVA force at bay under suppressive fire using the weapons and ammunition of his fellow fallen Marines and the advantage of their position atop a hill.
By the next day artillery support had driven NVA forces into retreat and rescue teams were able to reach their position but Uncle bastrop had vanished into the surrounding jungle with his wounded comrade on his back. Unable to locate the isolated Marines, both were assumed MIA. Through a series of miscommunications family was notified, via telegram (!), that the men were killed in action. Grieving parents back in Louisiana were preparing to hold the funeral when word came that he was alive and recovering from his injuries at a hospital in China.
Like so many of his generation, Uncle bastrop suffered terribly from the psychological impact of his time in Vietnam. Back in the States, he was unable to maintain a job. Through his older brother, who was injured before the draft and held a civilian job at the local VA, and because of his Purple Heart status, he was permanently hired and able to have a career. This gave him the chance at a life he would otherwise not have had. As we reflect today on his passing, we give great thanks to his city's Department of Veterans Affairs VA Medical Center for a lifetime of dedicated care and employment. They kept both his body and spirit alive for years and years, and for this we give thanks.
From side pocket
After the bride and groom danced we all joined them and I looked up and realized all six of us were dancing next to each other. I reached out and we all danced as one for a moment. My whole family!