My greatest Thanksgiving memory is a very emotional one for me, especially over the past three Thanksgivings....It was a Thanksgiving Day a long time ago when I was just a little guy, maybe 25 or 30 years ago. My family had just sat down to the table for Thanksgiving dinner. I, traditionally, sat right next to my Dad on his left. That was where I always sat. Well, we had begun to eat, you know, all the dishes and food being passed around the table when my Dad says to everyone, "Be careful of the gravy boat, it is hot and very slippery so be careful". Now, my Dad you gotta understand was a great father, and when he said something, you darn well did it without any commentary. Well, the food was flying around the table and everyone was making the usual Thanksgiving Day chatter when all of a sudden there was a huge crash at the end of the table and there was gravy everywhere......you could have heard a feather hit the floor....we all looked at the mess and did not say a single word as it had been my Dad who had the gravy boat slip from his hand and smash in the middle of the table. Well he was cursing a little bit as we all do when we have something like that happen, and after a few seconds of awkward silence, we all started to laugh at the fact that it was my Dad that had warned us about the slippery gravy boat and it turned out to be him who let it slip from his grasp. We cleaned up the gravy mess and the gravy boat, that was part of my Mom's good China set, was all chipped along the rim of the base of the gravy boat. Well, one of us made the comment, "Boy, I am glad that it wasn't me that dropped the gravy boat", and we all had a good laugh about that, even my Dad because we all knew that if it had been one of us who dropped the gravy boat, my Dad would have gone right through the roof. That Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be the most memorable Thanksgiving dinner my family ever had because as we laughed and joked about the dropped and chipped gravy boat my Dad joked that someday, after he was gone, we would all remember the day he dropped the gravy boat and laugh about it. Every Thanksgiving after that, at the dinner table, that gravy boat would get used and passed around, and we would all laugh and remember the day my Dad had dropped it and we would all say that the gravy boat would be his legacy, a way for us to remember him after he was gone, and this went on year after year after year for about 25 years, so it turned out to be kind of a family tradition. Well....sadly the day did come when my Dad was gone,....and that first Thansgiving without him was fast approaching, and that gravy boat came up in conversation a few days before Thanksgiving. It was a very emotional time for my family, as you can imagine. I mentioned to my Mom that we should make sure that we use the gravy boat just as we had every year, chipped and all, just as we always had. My Mom got very emotional and it seemed as though it might be too difficult for her to have to look at the gravy boat that day, so I just kind of let it go, as much as I really wanted the gravy boat on the table to remember my Dad and all of those great Thanksgiving dinners that we had together, I did not want to upset my Mom. We all showed up that Thanksgiving day, just as we always had, and it was very difficult because for the first time ever, my Dad was not going to be there. I had prepped the turkey, which used to be my Dad's job, and slipped it into the oven, which used to be my Dad's job, and mashed the potatos, which used to be my dad's job, and most difficult of all....I tried my best to make my Dad's home made gravy, which just always seemed to give our Thanksgiving dinner it's flavor, and I must admit, it came out pretty good. Not quite like my Dad's, but not too bad. So we all sat down to have the first Thanksgiving dinner without my Dad, and on the table, right in the spot where it had dropped all those years ago, sat the chipped gravy boat! We all noticed it, kind of afraid to mention it though, for fear of up setting my Mom. As we began to pass the food.....and the gravy we could not help but mention the day that my Dad let the gravy boat slip from his hands, all those Thanksgiving days ago......and we laughed about it, just as my Dad had said we would, and I think we all shed a few tears that day at dinner also, wiping them away quickly so that nobody would see them. I guess my Mom could not help but put the gravy boat out on the table, as difficult as it was for her, I think she knew how much that gravy boat meant to all of us. Today, we will gather at my Mom's house again, the third Thanksgiving without my Dad, and it is still a little tough to be without him, but we will have Thanksgiving dinner, and be thankful for so many things, not the least of which is the simple fact that we were fortunate enough to have had my Dad with us for so many Thanksgivings.

Happy Thanksgiving All.

Happy Thanksgiving Bigfish
Thanks for the story it brought a tear to my eye and a smile to my face.
I could picture you all sitting around the table when it happened.

This is also my third Thanksgiving with out my Dad, and you story made it a little easier for me to enjoy!



Thanks :)

I lost my Dad back in 1986, four weeks after my son was born. THere isn't a day that I don't think of him in some way or otherespecially on Thnksgiving. Not that anything of note happened at any one dinner that stands out. But more to pause an reflect and to be thankful for all that he shre and gave of himself to his family and to his children. He loved the outdoors and would spend as much time as he could out in the woods or on the water. Often, I went with him. Today, I find that I do many of the things that I used to do with him. Fishing, fly tyng, beginning to do my own plugs. And I have begun to appreciate why he liked to be out there. Funny, sometimes, today when I'm out on the water, I think that if I turned around fast enough, I'd catch a glimps of him sitting on a rock behind me, watching and smiling.

I think this one is going into the history books as a memorable one. God bless our troops.

-WW

Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Troops in Baghdad

Thursday, November 27, 2003



BAGHDAD, Iraq — Turkey with the commander in chief was a surprise Thanksgiving treat for American troops in Baghdad (search) Thursday.

President Bush flew in under the cover of darkness to dine with U.S. forces at a Baghdad International Airport (search) mess hall. It was the first trip ever by an American president to Iraq -- a mission tense with concern about his safety.

With the president out of sight, L. Paul Bremer (search), the chief U.S. civilian administrator, told the soldiers it was time to read the president's Thanksgiving proclamation and that it was a task for the most senior official present.

"Is there anybody back there more senior than us?" he asked. That was the cue for Bush, who promptly stepped forward from behind a curtain, setting off pandemonium among the troops.

"I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere," Bush joked to some 600 soldiers from the 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne Division, who were stunned by the appearance and applauded wildly while giving Bush a standing ovation.

"Thanks for inviting me. I can't think of finer folks to have Thanksgiving dinner with than you all."

"We thank you for your service, we're proud of you, and America stands solidly behind you," Bush said. And he urged the people of Iraq to "seize the moment and rebuild your great country based on human dignity and freedom."

Soldiers at the dinner spoke enthusiastically about Bush.

"He's got to win in '04. No one else can prosecute this war like he can," said Army Capt. John Morrison from Butler County, Pa. Said PFC1 Kyle Crittenden of Humboldt County, Calif.: "I'm proud to serve in his Army."

Bush reaffirmed for soldiers that their efforts are making a difference.

"You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq," he said, "so we don't have to face them in our own country."

Terrorists are testing America's resolve, Bush said, and "they hope we will run."

"We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost of casualties, defeat a ruthless dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins," the president said, prompting a standing ovation and cheers.

He also had a message for the people of Iraq: "The regime of Saddam Hussein is gone forever," he said, and pledged the help of the United States and its coalition partners, saying "we will stay until the job is done. I'm confident we will succeed."

Wearing an exercise jacket with a 1st Armored Division patch, Bush stood in a chow line and dished out sweet potatoes and corn for Thanksgiving dinner and posed with a platter of fresh-baked turkey.

Army Lt. Col. John Hinkley, from the 3rd Brigade 1st Armored Division serving in Baghdad, was not at the dinner with the president but was nevertheless touched by the visit: "It's a great morale boost," he told Fox News.

"It demonstrates that the president, as the commander in chief, is willing to go wherever he's sending his soldiers in harms way."

Bush flew in on the plane he most often uses, and White House officials went to extraordinary lengths to keep the trip a secret, fearing its disclosure would prompt terrorist attempts to kill him.

The president's plane -- its lights darkened and windows closed to minimize chances of making it a target -- landed under a crescent moon at Baghdad International Airport.

The news of Bush's trip was not released until he was in the air on the way back to the United States. "If this breaks while we're in the air we're turning around," White House communications director Dan Bartlett told reporters on the flight to Baghdad.

Plans for the trip were tightly held among a handful of senior aides.

In a ruse staged in the name of security, the White House had put out word that Bush would be spending Thanksgiving at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with his wife, Laura, his parents and other family members. Even the dinner menu was announced.

Bush's parents, former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, were invited to his ranch for the holiday but were not informed.

As for Bush taking the risk of a trip to Baghdad, Bartlett said it was appropriate for the president to visit troops on Thanksgiving. "It is also appropriate that the president travel in a way that his safety and security will not be compromised," he said.

Security fears were heightened by an attack last Saturday in which a missile struck a DHL cargo plane, forcing it to make an emergency landing at the airport with its wing aflame.

Bush spent only about two hours on the ground, limiting his visit to the airport dinner with U.S. forces. The troops had been told that the VIP guests would be L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

Instead, Bush slipped away from his home without notice Wednesday evening and flew to Washington to pick up aides and a handful of reporters sworn to secrecy.

Security fears were underscored by regular attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq. More than five dozen U.S. troops were killed by hostile fire in November, more than any other month since the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1. Early this week, a U.S. military official, Col. William Darley, said attacks peaked at more than 40 per day about two weeks ago and have since dropped to about 30 per day.

The violence persisted Thursday as the president was en route. Insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Italian mission in Baghdad, damaging the building but causing no injuries, the U.S. military said.

Also, a U.S. military convoy came under attack on the main highway west of Baghdad near the town of Abu Ghraib (search), witnesses said. And in the northern city of Mosul, unidentified gunmen shot dead an Iraqi police sergeant, said Brig. Gen. Muwaffaq Mohammed.

Since operations began, nearly 300 U.S. service members have died of hostile action, including 183 since May 1 when Bush declared an end to major fighting.

Bush's father visited U.S. troops at a desert outpost in Saudi Arabia on Thanksgiving Day 1990, in the runup to the Gulf War.

"We won't pull punches. We are not here on some exercise. And we're not walking away until our mission is done, until the invader is out of Kuwait," he told the troops. At one point, he climbed into a bunker to chat with troops.

Bush's father shared lunch with U.S. troops 65 miles from Kuwait, occupied at the time by Saddam Hussein's forces. George H.W. Bush had been the first U.S. president to visit a front-line area since President Nixon went to Vietnam in 1969.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

:btu: u got it FWW
put em in ur thanksgiving prayer @ the table!:)

Just got back from Mom's, dinner was great and the gravy boat was there, reminding us all of my Dad. Yup, somebody brought up the gravy boat story like clockwork, heard it a million times but it never gets old. Thanks for the kind words and I hope none of you guys dropped the gravy boat!!! Later.:cheers: :gu:

Don't know if it was Thanksgiving or Christmas but here goes.

Dad, who grew up in Maine, did logging and ran bootleg whiskey during prohibition from Canada into Maine and then rode the 'dead mans rail' from Maine to Connecticut where he met my mom used to have a few drinks once or twice a year. Mainly on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Well this one holiday, I knew he was sipping and sipping and then we were called for dinner. There was Grammy and my Uncles and aunt sitting there with my Dad, Mom, my little brother (now 57) and myself.

Dad filled one plate and then a second. He then pulled some more mashed potatoes over onto his plate and buttered them and put gravy on them.

He picked up his fork, was staring directly at the potatoes and got this strange look in his eyes. His head slowly lowered more and more until his face was in the mound of potatoes.

We could only look and start smiling and then someone giggled and then the entire family was laughing so hard it was like at a George Carlin show.

Dad woke up in an hour or two and was mildly mad because we ate dinner and didn't wake him from his nap to eat.

The Ole Sarge
(I'll miss Mom and Dad - Great Friends)

GREAT STORY,A TEAR IN THE EYE-GREAT MEMORIES.

Thanks HESH2, believe me when I tell you that I got somewhat emotional when I was typing it up. Glad you enjoyed.:kewl:

Very nice story Fish. God Bless You and Yours.

Bump!;)

Just thinkin' about my Dad!:D

Big Fish - Thanks for the story. Both my parents are still alive, but are divorced, which makes the holidays a little "watered down".

My wife and I are having dinner with my mother and her boyfriend. I find him difficult to deal with sometimes, but after I read your story, I'm just going to appriecate the fact that I can still spend a Thanksgiving with my mother and enjoy myself.

Thanks again.

I puked on my father-in-law at Thanksgiving once, does that count in this category?:eek:

very nice BF, story really hits home with those of us who have lost our dads. brings back memories, thanks man.

Very nice story BigFish........

Great story. I miss the days of holiday in the past. Parents, Grandparents. Very special times of our lives. Our relatives live on in our hearts and stories like this. This story really hit me hard, thankfully mom and dad are still well.
Thank you.

Wishing you and your family many more happy memories.

Took me awhile but sometimes sharing is therapeautic........

Unfortunately I lost my mom unexpectedly earlier this year, Oct 24th. I was on rte 495 south at 4am (fishing at the ditch) when my wife called in a panic. My father had just called saying my mom was being rushed to the hospital.

Needless to say I turned around and headed straight for the hospital. When I arived a mere 25 minutes later, my mother had passed.

Our family was devastated. Even though its a month and a half later, it' still hard for me to beleve she's gone. We hosted thanksgiving and it was tough. She was the core/backbone whenever a family event occurred.

I especially feel bad for my dad. Even though my older brother lives at home, he works the night shift which means my dad is alone from 1-11pm. Thank god that we are a close family.

Upon reflecting, it's amazing what an influence she had/has on my life. My oldest son Luke had a very special realtionship with her (1st grandchild) and he talks about her often. For a five year old, he is wise beyond his years.

I pray she is in a better place and realizes how much we miss her.
Just remember to be thankful for what we have because those same things may gone tomorrow.

she IS in a better place Mike, and knows you miss her. I like to think the ones we love that have passed would not want to see us in pain but instead be happy with all the wonderful memories .

Mike keep up the faith that she is in a better place. Memories make people last forever. Be there for your father, I am sure he has taken it the worst. Nothing makes a grandparent feel better than to see their grandchildren enjoy life. It will be tough but just be strong.

I hope nobody minds if I bump this....maybe some who never read it might enjoy it.....and be thankful for the loved ones in our lives this Thanksgiving. Still a very precious memory for me.....and the gravy boat will be there tomorrow! ;)

thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. in my family it's a time to remember family and friends that have passed and the times we' ve shared.

I remember eating turkey. Lots and lots of turkey. :bounce:

Never get tired of reading that story Larry!!!
Everyone have a great day here

Couple of really good posts in there. Bigfish - glad you bumped the thread up so we could read them. Really reminds you to appreciate the times we have with our loved ones.

A little late but I thought I would bump this again! Remembering my Dad today as always.

Don't drop the gravy boat! :)
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Word Bruce! LOL!

Lost my Dad and Mom a year apart in 95 and 96. Think about them a lot at this time of year.

My dad passed in 2001 and his 2 brothers passed in the years since.
(The youger of the two was my godfather, and the joke was that I looked and acted more like him than my dad)
Well the sole surviving member of my dad's family is his sister, my aunt, who had a total hysterectomy a year or so back and recently had a double mastectomy. She had done both chemo and radiation treatments and seems to be doing quite well, physically as well as mentally. Of course she lost her hair from the treatments, and found that without her hair she was the spitting image of my dad before he passed.

Needless to say her hair is starting to grow back now, but when she showed this to my brothers and sisters they started crying because she literally was his spitting image!

My mother (the saint) and I had already seen this when visiting her in the rehab hospital, so we weren't as shocked.

Hopefully we all have had many cherished moments with family and friends, so that we will enjoy the holidays more fully!

@ the dinner Table
my mother and father would constantly REMIND us about not spilling our Milk

seems like every other night one kiddo or the other would clumsily knock over
their milk causing a big ruckus and post pone my mum's turn to finally sit down
at the table (had to clean it up) and actually EAT WITH us.

WELL, this ONE Night she seemed a little different (spooky quiet) and we all sensed that something was gonna happen and it wasn't good.

Then Without Warning Mum comes over to the table and KNOCKS her full glass
of Milk Over ON PURPOSE ..... Saying in a most menacing VOICE with ABSOLUTE authority ! "I'LL BE THE ONE SPILLING THE MILK TONIGHT !"

AFTER that night we all did a MUCH better job of not spilling our Milk. :uhuh:

I would like to share this story again today with you......many have seen it and some have not! Happy Thanksgiving to all!;)

Larry , I have a small one .no way as good .I,ll share it when I get back from my son,s ......... if ya believe in [signs] this may have been one for me ..............ENJOY what you all have ><><

I look forward to it Mike!

Larry , I,m going to pass / it was agreat day & I hope it was for everyone else .........................Just be Thankful for what you have .....................Because you have no idea until you don,t :angel:

Had a Good Thanksgiving with the Family.

Yes, Enjoy what you have!

Larry, I get it, been there and thanks
This is what helps me :-)
63578

Thanks for bumping it Larry . This was the toughest of all so far . I sure do miss Mom !

I enjoy what I have every day cause I know it wont last for ever !

The day is a little emptier without them Chris but our lives fuller for having had them in it! Best to you!

Every since my dad's passing my mother will be doing something...ANYTHING and finds a penny here or there, and will state that that's Obie's (her pet name for him) sign that he's looking over her.

She will find pennies all the time, and yet we overlook them as just trash.


Now I'm starting to find pennies wherever I go.
Maybe he's looking out for me too???

Hats off to that guy. Brain not braun.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Hats off to that guy. Brain not braun.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

is this supposed to be a reply to the stonehenge thread or something?

I hadn't seen my brother since March. He lives on the New Jersey Shore, where we grew up. He lives alone; so, the Mrs. sent me down there so he wouldn't be. We beach fished from 6 AM dawn to 5 PM dark. We were entertained by on and off by genuine peanut bunker blitzes all day. It was fun chasing after them, and with my brother... reminding us of an earlier era.

Nothing big; but we were in the running. About 22 fish between us up to 32 inches. All this was unexpected; but we were not going to leave fish and fishing. Throughout the day, we grazed on a box of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies I had in the truck. That was our shared Thanksgiving dinner! We were too tired, cold, wet and dirty to bother going out to pig out.

Thats an awesome story Allan......sounds like a perfect Thanksgiving! Thanks for sharing!:)

That's the ticket!

It's not the food, but rather the company and memories that we all enjoy. Those that have passed may not be present, but thy are a presence you cannot forget!

My fear when I was younger was that I would be just another blip on the map, but I found that just being myself I have made lots of friends and touched many lives without knowing it.

Here are a few things I live by:

"Make you life an exclamation and not an explanation!"

"A person is not truly alone if they have friends and are a friend to others."

"You cannot have too many friends, but you can have too many enemies."

Enjoy the holiday season!

Best of days SK!