Last week’s Thanksgiving marked the first time Pat and I had celebrated the holiday out of town, away from our home. Pat and I have been married more than 43 years so that’s kind of a milestone for us.
The two of us and our daughter Meghan, son-inlaw Terry and grandson Liam spent several days away in a cabin in southeastern Oklahoma.
Pat had come up with the idea and the kids thought it sounded like it would be fun also. Liam, who is a little over three years old, won’t remember it probably but we have plenty of photos to show him when he gets older and understands.
As Pat and I visited several times, it’s the memories we’ll always cherish. The photos and videos will always be there to help remind us.
Meg and Terry are about to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary. This trip was the first time we had ever spent that many days with them and little Liam together and it was really fun.
This trip was about relaxing, having time to spend together and just having a good time.
There was an upstairs in the cabin. Pat and I had arrived the day before Meg, Terry and Liam got there. Pat mentioned as soon as she saw those stairs, “They will catch Liam’s attention quickly.”
They did that all right. If the little guy wasn’t doing something else, he usually could be found near the stairs. That kept his mom, dad, Pat and I busy ensuring he didn’t go but a couple of steps up and didn’t fall.
Can’t tell you how many times Terry and he walked up and down those stairs.
There were corn hole boards at the cabin, so we let him have a good time tossing the bags onto the board and from the top of the hole. There was a swing set and slide so Pat spent time with him doing that.
Terry’s main hobby is grilling, smoking, cooking various kinds of meats. He was excited when we began talking about this trip because he was in charge of preparing the Thanksgiving turkey.
He went to great lengths and, like most people who enjoy doing that, spent considerable time on how he was going to prepare it.
Early Thanksgiving afternoon, Meg also had prepared what I call a snack board of assorted cheeses, meats, crackers and other snack food to munch on throughout the day.
Meg prepared many of the other dishes for our dinner, including the green beans, a corn casserole, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy. The dressing was left to Pat to fix who always does a superb job.
Meg also baked the dessert, a caramel apple pie. It was all absolutely delicious.
We had plenty of leftovers for dinner the next night.
What is really neat about this trip is it provided memories for the rest of our lives. In so many ways, this trip was special.