A Thanksgiving to Remember
“Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:” Psalm 147:7
It’s cold enough to kill a hog. You have to be as old as I am and reared in the south to understand that phrase. It was in the early 1960’s when my mother’s sister called and invited us to come for Thanksgiving, and so that my dad could help my uncle slaughter a hog. They lived about seven or eight miles from where we lived. At that time, where they lived was basically in the country, but it no longer is since so much land has been developed. We lived in the city limits of a small town. I can’t remember how I felt about going to their house for Thanksgiving, but if I objected, it didn’t matter. At least I could play with my cousins.
I am not sure about that above-mentioned phrase, but I would logically guess that if one is going to kill a hog, it is better to do it when the weather is cold to prevent decay. I think it was around 30 degrees or so that Thanksgiving morning. My uncle killed the hog by shooting it between the eyes. That sounds gross to animal lovers, but not so gross to those who like pork. My aunt and uncle set up a long table in their basement to butcher the hog and wrap the pork chops and ham for the freezer. I didn’t participate in that gory chore. Ugh. Who wants to deal with hog innards? Today, we just go to the grocery store and buy our meats, not giving too much thought as to what goes into processing chickens, steak, and pork for our consumption. My aunt and uncle also had a smokehouse where they smoked meat. I remember one time my uncle killed a huge snake that was under the smokehouse. Yikes.
Normally, at my house, we would have turkey, dressing, and all the fixings for our Thanksgiving meal, but that particular day, my aunt prepared fried chicken and sides. Now my aunt was an excellent cook. She spent many years working in an elementary school as one of the “lunch ladies”. You might wonder how that could make someone a good cook based on what we kids thought about the food in our lunchrooms, but I wish I could still get a meat, two vegetables, fruit, a yeast roll, milk, and a dessert for twenty-five cents. Kids weren’t given a choice back then. You either bought your lunch that was planned by a nutritionist and prepared by ladies who loved serving the children, or you brought your lunch in a brown paper bag. I had one teacher who required the pupils to show her their empty plates before she would let us have dessert. On the days that we had spinach, several of us would eat the fruit cocktail out of the little paper cup and then stuff the spinach in the cup, covered with our paper napkins, and presented our “clean” plates, like she was none the wiser!
My parents, aunt, and uncle worked all afternoon preparing that pork for later consumption. That was around 60 years ago, but I still remember that Thanksgiving when we were thankful for God’s bounty. My parents, aunt, uncle, and two cousins have all passed from this life. I am the only one still living who was there that “cold enough to kill a hog” Thanksgiving. I am thankful most of all for Jesus and His sacrifice on Calvary’s cross that gave so many folks and me the opportunity to become one of God’s family members, to spend eternity in a place of perfect peace. and to have the Holy Spirit as a constant companion to help us through this crazy, upside-down world. I am also thankful for those who exhibited what a loving Christian should be, for loving me, and for the opportunity to appreciate what is really important in life. The rich and famous can have their wealth and fame, but just give me Jesus. By the way, it is not “turkey day”, it is THANKSGIVING so when you sit down with those with whom you gather on this day, if you are blessed to have others to join you, and enjoy the turkey, or chicken, or whatever is served, be sure to not neglect to give thanks to the Lord for the food, for life, for love, and for all the many blessings which He has provided.