Thanksgiving is coming very soon, and it brings to mind countless happy family gatherings. My grandparents, immediate family, aunts, uncles, and cousins all get together. In the past eight years, a few children of my cousins have been added to the mix.
The tradition also involves two other things. The first is cramming ourselves all in to a house that we would be over the capacity for. The second is Grandpa’s report. If you are far away and live out of town, you can call in for it. Grandpa always gives a blow by blow report about what was served, but he focuses on the desserts primarily. You will find out if the staples of apple pie and chiffon cake with whipped topping were trotted out. Pretzel Jello is also something else that shows up in the mix quite frequently. Grandpa and I always joke about him sending me a piece in the mail, and he always said it would be an envelope of smashed up yuck by the time it got there.
For the record, Grandma sent me a cake once in the mail. She sliced the pieces up and wrapped them individually and sent it by priority. When I opened it up, it was still fresh. I don’t think I shared it with anyone.
We almost lost Grandpa about seventeen years ago. He had stomach cancer, and he lost part of it. He recovered fine, but now, he has to eat as if he had lap-band. He cannot eat lare meals, and eats just a little at a time. Of course, he still finds a way to sample the desserts by taken a very small amount of each, or saving one piece for another day.
I always wondered if people had to go on a liquid diet after having an elective Bariatric surgery rather than what Grandpa had, but it dawned on me that Grandpa basically has the same diet. He never had a weight problem, so his smaller stomach causes him to be more slight than he used to be, but we are very happy to have him around. Grandma just makes sure to make servings small and to also include fruit if Grandpa had his fill with dinner and wants dessert but can’t stomach one of his old favorites. In fact, he has more fun having a little bit of everything versus the rest of us who approach gluttony on our favorite and have no room for anything else.
This Thanksgiving will probably be similar to last, except I will be there for the first time in a few years. I won’t have to call in for the report. I will be court side! Actually, more properly, I will be tableside.
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