Brotherly Love
Martha, an 82-year-old mother of four and grandmother of six, always looked forward to a special phone call at Thanksgiving. Her brother, Tony, who lived with his wife and children in Paris, always would call on Thanksgiving Day. It was their special time to catch up and talk for as long as they liked. One Thanksgiving, while her family was in the midst of preparing dinner, Tony called right on schedule and Martha took the portable phone back to her room so that she could talk to her brother in peace and quiet. As usual, they talked for more than an hour. Finally, it was time to hang up, and Martha reluctantly said good-bye.
Just before dinner, the doorbell rang. Martha looked around the table and saw that her entire family was accounted for, so she naturally wondered who it could be. When she opened the door, Martha was in for the surprise of a lifetime: Standing in the doorway was Tony, his wife and their children.
"It was such a surprise," Martha remembers, "and it was so much like the Tony I used to know as a child. He always was so full of surprises, and he loved practical jokes. It was the best Thanksgiving gift of my life."
A Helping Hand
Lisa, a mother of three girls and a meticulous party planner, remembers a Thanksgiving morning when she woke up with a cold. "I just felt lousy," Lisa says. "But my whole family was coming over in just a few hours, and there was still so much left to do." Lisa admits to being a bit of a perfectionist, and under normal circumstances, she'd want to make all of the last-minute preparations herself.
"My oldest daughter, [13-year-old] Elizabeth, saw that I was feeling under the weather, and she volunteered to take care of everything." At first, Lisa wasn't all that sure that she felt comfortable trusting everything to her daughter, but before long, Elizabeth had enlisted the aid of her younger sisters, 5-year-old Clare and 7-year-old Maria. Lisa hoped for the best and went back to bed.
"I woke up a few hours later feeling a lot better," Lisa recalls. "And to my delight — and surprise! — the house looked beautiful. My girls did everything right. In fact, they did such a good job, I have to say, I couldn't have done better myself." The result was a Thanksgiving the whole family enjoyed.
My Father, the Chef
"My dad," Amy admits, "has never been known for his skills in the kitchen." Amy is a mother of two boys, and every other year, she hosts the family Thanksgiving party at her house. One year, Amy's dad stopped by early to pick up his grandsons so that she would have time to herself before the party began. Amy appreciated the time alone and used it to make a few last-minute phone calls and run to the grocery store.
Family and friends began to arrive right on schedule, about noon. By 1 p.m., everyone was there — aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters — except Amy's dad and her two sons. About 1:30, when everyone was getting hungry, Amy's dad walked in, followed by her two sons, one of whom was carrying a large plate of what looked like hard, black rock.
"My dad and the boys went back to his house and made fudge — or something that was supposed to be fudge!" The result of their combined culinary efforts resembled something closer to chocolate concrete than real fudge, Amy recalls, but nevertheless, she says, "It's a wonderful Thanksgiving memory, and one that has become a legend in our family."
