Do you remember the best Thanksgiving? Most of them are really good. Way better than Christmas. No ridiculous expectations. No opening myriad gifts, until, sated, they completely lose their meaning. And no shopping in a mad frenzy, struggling to find the perfect gift for that one person. Or like me, running around on Christmas Eve,really lost and looking not for a gift, but for a lifeline.
But Thanksgiving is simply a time to get together with friends and/or family around a meal and be grateful to God for His great provision. However, my best Thanksgiving didn't include a turkey, or dinner, or family gathered together.
Oh, the family was gathered together. We stood out in eight inches of snow, in our pajamas with boots on, and watched firefighters use hoses and chain saws to put out our house, our two month old house, as it burned.
I still have fond memories of that Thanksgiving.
What, are you nuts, Kevin? What were you thankful for?
As the opening in the roof grew wider while the firemen threw burning trusses down to the snow, my heart overflowed with gratefulness.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. The Little Woman and I held the children's hands. The two single women who lived with us looked on the spectacle too.
All of them.
No one injured. No one killed. Not a scratch.
Tho cares about the house? We can- and did- rebuild it.
The frosting on the cake was our friends and neighbors who attended our church. From the monent I looked at the snow glowing in amber hues like a birthday cake from the flames on the roof until we settled in to our friends' beds, was only a couple of hours.
I remember the firefighter offering us shelter from the Red Cross.
"Thanks, but we don't need it. We dwell among our people."
Happy Thanksgiving.
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