2025 Life Logs, Day 331: 25 Years of Thanksgiving
Date: Thursday, November 27, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 53, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Most Thanksgiving Day’s in my life have been celebrated with family, but today I had Thanksgiving at the home of a neighbor. We are friendly, but not friends, and it was a very strange experience for me. The strange feeling was not because I have specific Thanksgiving traditions that I need to follow, other than making Mark’s cranberry salad. It was just that I was not with the people I love. So, for however many Thanksgivings I have remaining in my life, I will make sure that I am with family or close friends.
When I walked home late this afternoon from the neighbor’s house, I started thinking about just where I have spent Thanksgiving Day over the past 25 years. I went down that rabbit hole and three hours later I emerged with the answer. I have spent 3 of the past 25 years in Concord, New Hampshire, 3 in Florida with Mark’s family, 4 in Puerto Rico with Justin and family, 2 in North Carolina with my sister Patsy, and 2 in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the home of Jed’s Aunt Sue and Uncle John. And I have spent 6 of the 25 years having Thanksgiving dinner here in Falmouth with Heather and Jed and boys. Some of my favorite memories of the years in Falmouth include 2021 when Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco flew up from Puerto Rico and instead of observing the traditional Thanksgiving Day, we spent our day in Plymouth standing in solidarity with the indigenous people of Massachusetts who hold a Day of Mourning on this day. Then the next day we had what the grandkids called a fabulous, fun, Friday family feast. In 2020, our ‘pandemic pod’ family gathered for the occasion. This included Heather, Jed, and the boys, me, and the Simpkins family—Mike, Grace, and their two boys, Robert and Joey. In 2019, we had turkey, but Jed also whipped up a fabulous mushroom wellington to add a vegetarian alternative to our feast. And we had oysters, which is a Goldstone tradition. In 2018, we had Mr. Turkey for dinner. He was a turkey that Sam and Jonah earned at a Boy Scout turkey shoot. They each won one, so we ate Mr. Turkey and gave the other one to the Falmouth Service Center.
That leaves the 5 years Mark and I spent in various places on our sail around the world. The first one of those was in the Chesapeake Bay just after we left. Justin traveled down to Solomon’s Island to surprise us with a Thanksgiving Day visit in 2005. In 2006, we were treated to a Thanksgiving Dinner at the Opua Cruising Club in New Zealand. They had a tradition of inviting boats who were laying over there for their summer to bring a dish to share and come together in their clubhouse. I never thought to ask why they had an American Thanksgiving in New Zealand, but I think we were 1 of 4 American couples that year. All the rest were from all around the world and we all enjoyed New Zealand turkey. In 2007, were in Bundaberg, Australia, and we invited two other couples to have dinner on Windbird. The following two Thanksgivings, 2008 and 2009 were both spent aboard Windbird in the Langkawi Yacht Club on Rebok Island in Malaysia. And in 2010 we were in South Africa and just completed a 4 day safari in Kruger National Park. We were with friends, Lynne and Ed Kirwin, and we had Thanksgiving dinner at a Portuguese-Mozambican restaurant in the mountains of the northern province of Mapumalanga in the town of Graskop. That was definitely the most unusual Thanksgiving dinner. We certainly did not have turkey that year! And I really enjoyed another unusual Thanksgiving dinner with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco in 2023, when instead of turkey, we had Pernil which is Puerto Rican seasoned roast pork. It was so tender and delicious.
I have had many Thanksgiving Day adventures, but the one I cherish most was in 2015 when the whole family was together in Puerto Rico. It is the only Thanksgiving that Mark and I ever had with our whole family together … Heather, Jed, Sam, Jonah, Ollie, and Justin, Jo, Ziggy and Coco.
At one of the Thanksgiving dinners at Heather and Jed’s when the boys were younger, we went around the table sharing something for which we were grateful. Jonah answered, “The whole universe.” I’m with Jonah. Happy Thanksgiving!
