UNITED STATES—Thanksgiving 2022 was a bit different than previous holidays for my family. For starters, I had to work, which has become a norm for me. When you work in retail, you unfortunately don’t have much of an option, plus I don’t mind because the actual day itself is not that busy. It is an opportunity to get paid and to earn holiday pay on top of that without breaking too much of a sweat. With that said, our family hosted a Thanksgiving that was a bit more immediate and not a sprawling spread, as we have done in the past. Just my parents, my siblings and my nieces attended the dinner. It was nice having something so small because I truly cannot recall the last time we did that as a family. It had to be in the late 90s the last time this occurred.
And for the first time in nearly 20 plus years, my mother actually cooked the majority of the meal. My mother rarely cooks Thanksgiving dinner because like myself she has to work. Not in 2022, she prepared the turkey like only she can do. We had a ham, a chuck roast with carrots and potatoes, macaroni and cheese, greens that were to die for, string beans and dressing, yes, we call it dressing in our family.
As for the desserts, I was responsible for crafting those, and I may have done too much! I mean 3 sweet potato pies, an apple pie, a pumpkin cheesecake and an ambrosia salad. You know what is sad about the entire situation: I didn’t want any of the desserts that I cooked, and I guess I am evolving because in the past I would have had a taste of just about everything, but when it comes to sugar, I have been curbing my desire to have sugar more and more and I don’t miss it as a result people.
I did have a small slice of sweet potato pie, but even more tempting were the Candied Yams that I made that everyone ate up. We ate, we watched a little football, we laughed, we joked, we talked about the holidays and reminisced on the past. I think that is the best part about spending holidays with the family: you get the opportunity to show your loved ones how important they are to your life and what they mean to you. It does help when you get to see siblings that you have not seen in quite a few months, close to a year.
Yeah, with most of my siblings I don’t see them often, we all have our own families or things that we juggle, so we talk thru the phone and by text, but rarely do we see one another in person unless it’s something tragic or epic taking place people. We chatted about that and mad a promise to make a change because life is too short and you never know when your time or someone you care about is up.
Cherish family, cherish those moments while you have them because they are far and in between America. Thanksgiving 2022 reminded how important my family is and how I enjoy spending time with them. It brightens your spirt and your energy when you least expect it.
Written By Jason Jones
