Thanksgiving Eve Thought

Searched my memory for Thanksgivings past as I looked in my cluttered fridge and got bummed. No green and red peppers. I love green and red peppers. I got unbummed because I remembered the grocery store cashier informed me earlier that the store would be open on Thanksgiving until 4 pm. So if I needed green and red peppers so bad, I could get them--by 4pm anyway.

Back in yester-century, NOTHING was open on Thanksgiving, save a gas station--maybe. I thought about my parents staying up, what seemed like all night cooking. I fell asleep listening to them talking back and forth. Made me feel safe. If my mom ran out of some ingredient, she was on the phone calling my aunts if they had said ingredient. Or over to the neighbors and vice versa. None of this running to the store for that last bit of ingredient. If you didn't have it or somebody else didn't have it--you wouldn't have it.

NO grocery store was open. My Iowa hometown literally did shut down. A national holiday would soon dawn. The grocery stores my town did have all closed closed their doors and turned out the lights early. Family and company were comin'!

In yester-century the day before Thanksgiving stores would not open their doors again until the day after Thanksgiving. That day is now called Black Friday (that's a whole nother post!). The time away from stores gave folks plenty of time with their loved ones.

Yea. OK. Although I may stop at the grocery store tomorrow before 4 pm to get my green and red peppers, I do ponder about now simplicity of Thanksgivings past:

I miss them.