Thanksgiving with Grandma

     My mother didn't enjoy the cold in Ohio and wanted to strike out on her own so she left for California.  My father followed soon afterwards.  They raised a family of nine children out west.  One of the disadvantages of living in a different state, far away from the rest of the family, were holidays like Thanksgiving.  
     One always hears stories about going to grandma's house for a turkey dinner.  I visited my grandparents in Ohio three times.  Only two of those were when I was old enough to remember.  We never visited Grandma's for Thanksgiving. 
    One also hears horror stories about relatives at Thanksgiving so I don't know if a visit to Grandma's house would have been a good memory or a horror story but I prefer to think it would have been a good memory.

Grandma's dinner table set for sixteen with the china that she purchased in Panama.