Thanksgiving is currently celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November and has been an annual tradition since 1863. It is thought that the 1st Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive the brutal winter. The 1st Thanksgiving feast lasted 3 days providing food enough for 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans.
As per our tradition, we always make the 5-hour trip to our American family (the Shuldas) in Pagosa Springs to spend Thanksgiving with them. Its one of my favorite times of the year. Its like having Christmas but without the presents.
The Shuldas live in a 'log cabin' style house and its cozy and warm. In the middle of their living room they have a black belly style wood burning oven which heats up the whole house and Todd knows to cut extra wood when we make plans to travel to Pagosa. I love a real, crackling fire when its cold outside. The Shulda's home is our home-away-from-home. We 'live' in the top room of the garage which is Leana's home office but also has a sofa and murphy bed as well as its own bathroom and kitchenette.
Jordan and Braydon are best friends and only get to see each other twice a year so when they get together, they make sure they have a ball to make up for lost time. They spend many afternoons playing made-up games with Lego or Bionicles, being soldiers or Transformers or playing with Zulu and Hershey in the back. Cullen joins in from time to time too.
We always set out for Pagosa the afternoon before Thanksgiving Day since Warren has to work that day. We arrive at the Shuldas late that evening and end up drinking coffee and chatting until midnight.
On Thanksgiving Day Leana makes a brunch for us and we spend most of the morning getting the turkey ready and any other dishes that need to be made ahead of time like my milktart which is requested every year. We try not to eat much in the morning because by 4 pm we are feasting on turkey and every kind of carbohydrate imaginable.
Depending on who is in town, there is usually 12 or more people at the Thanksgiving meal and they're all part of the Shulda clan. After lunch, when everything is packed away and tidied, we go for a long walk in the canyon which is what the Shuldas' backyard backs onto. Some stay behind to sleep or play boardgames but I always feel better walking off the big lunch.
The day after Thanksgiving is spent lazing around, eating leftovers, going for walks and just enjoying being together. Snow is always a variable over Thanksgiving and the kids love to go outside and play, build snowmen and have snowball fights.
By the time we leave to return to Denver, we've had enough turkey to keep us going until Christmas and we feel lazy, lethargic and definitely not happy to return to the rat race. The Shuldas get to stay in their blissful lifestyle and they promise to think of us when they throw another log on the fire while drinking hot chocolate.
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