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It's the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day which has always been my most favorite holiday. It's changed over the years, as everything does, but on Thanksgiving Day, no matter where I am or who I'm with, it's just more, instead of changed or different, better or worse. It's just more, like extra whipped cream on a piece of pie.

I miss things from my past Thanksgivings, loved ones I've lost especially, but it's always been and continues to be, for me at least, a holiday that just can't be commercialized like all the rest. Yes there are decorations on people's lawns now. Big blown up turkeys, flags and such but still not as much as other holidays and the day itself always seems so quiet and peaceful, well once you've gotten to where you're going, because traffic is absolutely horrible on Thanksgiving while traveling to your destination and somehow it's always a fast ride home. Why is that?

Thanksgiving isn't about presents or getting or giving anything, except ourselves and our love. All the commercials on TV pretty much ignore Thanksgiving, all it is is the opening season for Christmas and spending money, somehow they just can't sell what Thanksgiving is, they can't commercialize this holiday.

Little kids still love to put their hands on a piece of paper, trace their hands and make a turkey. I did it, you did it, we've all done it. Such a silly simple fun drawing that when we learn it we're amazed at what a great turkey we just drew. Look at that, I'm an artist! And every parent loves to hang that up on their fridge, nothing on the lawn to show off to anyone, just for themselves.

Waking up on Thanksgiving morning was so exciting, a day off that I couldn't sleep late, even in my late teens and early 20s when the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving was one of the best nights out, coming home in the wee hours, sometimes even getting home when the turkey was being put in the oven. But I'd wake up once the smell of the turkey cooking filled the house, drawing me out of bed, my nose following the smell to the kitchen like a cartoon character floating in the air, heading to the oven to take a peek, and then hearing my mom say "close it!". For me, Thanksgiving is just about being with family. And on Thanksgiving the oddest and most beautiful families are just created out of the blue, magic. No matter what your tradition is, was or will be, you're with people that matter in your life. And it also seems to be a day that so many more people get out and volunteer to help the less fortunate. A day most people do remember how much more they have.

Growing up by tonight my mom would have had all her supplies on hand for the big day, no last minute shopping, the stores were all closed when I was a kid on Thanksgiving Day. And there was no big shopping day the Friday after, that day was for relaxing, having leftovers and continuing that warm fuzzy feeling. No, not the tryptophan in the turkey. Just more. More whipped cream on my pie.

Thanksgiving day was watching the Macy's Parade, which I've never been to. Typical New Yorker. But watching it on TV was great and also waiting for Santa's first arrival of the season. My mom made it special and again even though I miss her, especially on holidays, everything she did is still with me on Thanksgiving and everyday, a layer or two below the whipped cream, but there, under the More.

We watched "The March of the Wooden Soldiers". That seems to be a movie that just hasn't caught on in this generation, it's rarely on and I haven't seen it in years. But I still can remember so much about the movie, so many lines, one of my favorite's:

Ollie Dee (Oliver Hardy) : Goodbye Stannie.
Stannie Dum (Stan Laurel) : Well aren’t I going with you?
Ollie Dee (Oliver Hardy) : Why no. You’ve got to stay here with Barnaby. You’re married to him.
Stannie Dum (Stan Laurel) : I don’t want to stay here with him.
Ollie Dee (Oliver Hardy) : Why not?
Stannie Dum (Stan Laurel) : I don’t love him.

Read more: http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.php/articles/laurel_and_hardys_march_of_the_wooden_soldiers/#ixzz1eIr4W8AA

And football, of course football has always been a part of Thanksgiving. Watching and playing. Even my mom getting out there and playing touch tackle with the guys and loving it. For a short time playing football early in the morning on Thanksgiving was becoming a tradition for some of my nephews, and even though it's not every year now, it's part of their pie, just under the More.

This Thanksgiving Day I'll be spending it upstate at my sister Linda and my brother in law Bob's house, really the perfect setting for Thanksgiving, the mountains, still some of the colorful leaves on trees, and a big backyard for a football game and if it snows, a hill for sleigh riding. Their kitchen is really big, warm and homey, everyone in and out gathering around the oven when Linda's checking on the turkey, especially my four legged niece and nephew, Scout and Casper. Casper is the one on top and as much as Scout loves her brother dearly, she puts up with a lot, Casper is crazy, fun, but crazy. The last time I slept over he woke me by jumping right on top of my belly, like he was doing the heimlich maneuver on me, I woke up fast, that little bugger! But they'll be in the kitchen all day, especially when the turkey gets carved, waiting for a piece to drop, or even a piece given to them by not being able to ignore their beautiful little begging faces.

There will be a lot of us there, but not everyone as sharing holidays is what we all do, but even so, they are all with me and part of my pie that just keeps getting more whipped cream.

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