I took the turkey out of my freezer this morning so it could thaw in time for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving? When did that happen?

Of course that started my thoughts on a trip down memory lane.

Thanksgiving was a pretty important holiday when I was a child. I remember my grandmother baking pies for what seemed like a full week before. My entire extended family, consisting of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and assorted cousins were always in attendance.

At some point during the week before, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving would air on TV, adding to the anticipation. Cartoon specials were always a big deal back then, after all we didn’t have cable or a 24 hour cartoon network. Cartoons were purely Saturday morning fare until the holidays rolled around. It never got old watching Snoopy making toast and popcorn with Woodstock.

Thanksgiving morning I’d wake up to the smell of turkey roasting. In the wee hours of the morning, my Mom would have gotten up and prepared it, as we would have to have it cooked and ready to travel to my grandmothers (across the street) in time for the meal.

My Dad and I would sit together in the living room and watch the start of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade for awhile before the lure of Gram’s house got too powerful to resist. Then I’d sneak over so that my cousins and I could sample all of the yummy snack items that the family had prepared.

From the fancy dishes of pickles and cheeses to the homemade fudge and stuffed dates, we felt the need to sample them all. It was definitely the reason we weren’t so hungry by the time the meal time arrived. And the reason several of us had belly aches by the end of the day.

The amazing smells of roasted turkey, potatoes, squash and whatever else was on the menu combined to create an aroma that just was Thanksgiving. The women bustled in the kitchen and after catching Santa Claus at the end of the parade my cousins and I would either retreat to the porch to plan some sort of musical presentation for after the meal or grab the Sears Wish Book in preparation for our favorite Thanksgiving Day activity.

The drafting of the Christmas list.

Back then, the Wish Book was the first sign of Christmas you saw. The decorations and television ads didn’t start until after Thanksgiving. The Christmas specials didn’t air on TV until December. But the Wish Book was released before.

We turned the pages picking out everything we wanted Santa to bring us and after the meal (it always had to be after we ate) we would write our letter to Santa Claus and ask him for half the Wish Book toy section.

It seems odd now that Thanksgiving was such a big holiday to us. Now Wal-Mart has the Christmas items on display alongside the Halloween decorations. It’s almost like it’s simply become something to ‘get over’ before we can move on to Christmas. I know that my own children probably never have seen it as being the big deal that I did.

How about you, what are your Thanksgiving memories? Please share them either in the comments section here or by using the Boomer Voices section.

And Happy Thanksgiving!