ALBANY — Thanksgiving is always a day filled with family, friends, fond memories and the pause to give thanks for blessings.
Below, several Southwest Georgians have shared their favorite memories of past Thanksgivings, in their own words.
The stories vary from heart-warming to humorous. But each one exemplifies the important part Thanksgiving plays in our lives.

HEADING TO THE MOUNTAINS
Thanksgiving has always been a special time for our family, but last year it was even better!
Having grown up in south Georgia, we have almost always been very traditional as we celebrate holidays. We either travel to a family member’s home, or they travel to our home and all the seasoned cooks prepare a fabulous meal for all to enjoy. However, last year we ventured out and became odd ducks.
You see, my wife and I literally love the mountains and all the splendor of the beautiful fall leaves, but we have missed this presentation of colors for several years because of the encroaching holiday period. This past year we did it — we spent the Thanksgiving holiday in the north Georgia mountains in a beautiful cabin with our only son and his girlfriend.
Although we love our family dearly, we had the best time ever. We had several days to relax and simply enjoy each other, without any of the hype of food preparation and/or extra cleaning and arranging of a home in expectation of arriving guest. I don’t want this to sound like all the extra work is a huge hassle, but in a nut shell, we get lost in all the busyness and sometimes forget the need to enjoy our family and truly be thankful.
The year 2008 will go down in the history books as one of the best, if not the best, Thanksgiving holiday that we have ever had.
Kenny Phillips, Anchorage executive director
PLEASANT SURPRISE OF UNEXPECTED GUESTS
My favorite Thanksgiving memory is when I was 9. My family was living in Massachusetts and had arranged for my aunt and cousins to visit for the week from Virginia.
My parents had figured that we would have about 10 people attend Thanksgiving that year. So to prepare for such a large crowd, my father began working on an extension to the dining room table. The extension was so large that it placed the head of the table out into the front hallway, as he wanted to make sure that there was enough room for all the food and the people.
His foresight was amazing though, because on Thanksgiving Day my cousin, who was a flight steward at the time, arrived at our front door with his entire Piedmont Airlines flight crew. They had flown into Boston and been delayed for an extended period of time. So instead of just 10 people for Thanksgiving dinner, we now had 16.
I remember the conversation with these people who were displaced over the holidays as being joyous and exciting. They were so grateful for being able to share their Thanksgiving with others, as opposed to sitting in a lonely hotel room for the night.
The next morning, otherwise referred to by the stores as Black Friday, we all woke early and took the train into Boston to visit Filene’s Basement for the sales. It was a great week spent with relatives that we saw only a couple times a year and strangers that became friends.
Suzanne F. Davis, CPRP, Albany Recreations and Parks director
FORGING BONDS WITH FAMILY
I grew up in south Louisiana, but my family had roots in lower Mississippi. We owned land there and would farm it during the summer months. The rest of the year we would make frequent visits to the beautiful hills for other reasons such as hunting, fishing and just retreating.
After Anne and I were married, Dad and I started a routine of celebrating the occasion at her parents’ home with a huge meal. Her mother was a wonderful cook and I developed some new favorite dishes during those years. Shortly after a midday feast, Dad and I would strike out for the hills to hunt mostly squirrel and quail. By this time, Mom had already died, so it was just me, Dad and a bird dog.
This routine continued for about six years. Looking back, I now realize what a bond those trips had created between us. Our families got along extremely well and for that, I am deeply thankful.
Jimmie Nettles, First Baptist Church Albany minister of music and worship
SAVORING FINAL FULL FAMILY FELLOWSHIP
My favorite Thanksgiving was while we still lived in Chicago. We had moved into a new home and hadn’t yet purchased any dining room furniture. That was the year we had invited about 15 people to share dinner with us and had set up two large folding tables in order to accommodate everyone.
My parents had come up from Georgia that year, and the children were still at home. The house was full of family and friends and the smell of baking turkey and all of the wonderful foods that we overindulge ourselves with during the holidays. It was special because, unbeknownst to us, it was the last time that we were all able to be together.
Silke Deeley, Liberty House executive director
CULINARY MISCALCULATION
When my wife cooked 10 sweet potatoes and made two sweet potatoes pies. She was unaware that she had enough potatoes to make about five-six pies. Those were the thickest pies I have ever seen in my life.
William Chunn, Westover High School principal
FULFILLING A DYING WISH
The year was 1999, and my granddaddy (Bill Lofton) had been diagnosed with metastatic liver and bone cancer in October. He had been given the option of quantify or quality of life, and he choose quality. He said he wanted to enjoy his family for the days he had left and not be sick from all the treatments.
He was one of nine children, and all he wanted was to have one last family Thanksgiving. So we started planning.
He had not seen his baby brother in 14 years. I called my Uncle Larry, who now lived out in California, and told him his brother's wish. We planned a surprise homecoming to be with us for our family Thanksgiving.
I drove to the Atlanta airport and picked my uncle up and brought him home. When we arrived, it was late and everyone was a sleep. The next morning when we all woke up, my granddaddy wanted to know where had I been all day, and I told him I had some things to do but I had a surprise for him. I went and got his baby brother, and the look on his face when he saw his baby brother will be instilled in my memory forever.
My granddaddy was more than a granddaddy to me — he was my daddy. My dad had left my mother and me when I was 3, so he had filled the shoes of a dad and a granddad. We enjoyed the best family Thanksgiving that we have ever. He had all of his siblings that were still alive with him to give thanks. (Six were still living at the time.)
Rosalyn Horne, Easter Seals Southern Georgia development coordinator

FINDING JOY IN FAMILY TRADITIONS
My favorite memories are about spending time with my amazing family and friends, the food and the fellowship.
We have a lot of traditions with our family at Thanksgiving. We start the morning off watching the Thanksgiving Macy’s Day Parade (my little girl loves to watch for Santa at the end). My mom begins cooking for Thanksgiving days before so the family can enjoy the variety of tasty salads, desserts and vegetables and my favorite — the cranberry sauce. The turkey is always moist and melts in your mouth (we usually don’t have much turkey left for sandwiches later).
She brings out the fine china and we all sit around the table telling what we are thankful for before we dig in, we reflect on our blessings and how lucky we are.
The day continues with my dad and I watching the Detroit Lions play football (it is tradition since we’re originally from Michigan), playing Spades and board games and just enjoying each other’s company. See, not really exciting to most. It’s refreshing to enjoy the day and be with those you love! That’s what Thanksgiving is to me — counting you blessings!

Becky Belcher, Doco Regional Federal Credit Union public relations director

TAKING THE CELEBRATION OVERSEAS
I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to study abroad right out of undergraduate school in Salzburg, Austria, in the late ‘70s where I met some of the most wonderful people in the world and made friendships, which are as strong and treasured to this day as they were then, many of which began around MY Salzburg Thanksgiving table.
I love to cook, and I’ve always loved to cook — anyone who knows me knows that. And back then, for this poor graduate exchange student whose food budget was meager, this skill/passion came in very handy.
While in Austria I lived in a “Studentenwohnheim”, a dorm-like building arranged such that everyone on the floor had private living and sleeping quarters, but shared a large kitchen. I used that kitchen, and I used it a lot, almost exclusively at first. I don’t know if this was typical, but most of the students on my floor appeared to be more “well-off” than me financially, at least where eating was concerned. Very few of them prepared their own meals or used the kitchen at all other than to make the occasional cup of tea, or to cut up fruit, cheese or bread for a snack. Not me! I couldn’t afford the expensive restaurants of Salzburg.
Thanksgiving was and is a big deal in my family. So when Thanksgiving time approached, my family must have been able to sense the anxiety from homesickness that was beginning to well up in me, because throughout November I received, almost daily, care packages of treats and special reminders of the holiday (decorations, non-perishables, canned goods and cooking spices, and stuff packed in dry ice). So many that there was nothing left for me to do but to have a feast of my own.
And what’s a feast without feasters? But wait, I didn’t really know any of these people, and, as Thanksgiving is an American holiday, no one will know what it is, or be willing to celebrate it with me. So how was I going to get feasters?
Then it came to me. You can’t get feasters unless you invite feasters. I invited these strangers to have dinner with me. And they all accepted (Actually, I learned later that they had been enjoying the tantalizing smells coming out of the kitchen most evenings when I was cooking, and it was they who thought that it was I who was stuck up for not ever offering to share any of my splendid cooking with them.) For dinner I cooked a big bird and dressing, and I baked pies from the ingredients that came from home. I also prepared lots of vegetables and other specialty dishes, including my now internationally famous spinach parmesan (then and now, a huge hit). Oh, and we had lots and lots of wine. Everyone brought wine, and we drank it all.
We ate, and drank and talked, and laughed all evening and well into the night. When it was time for clean-up everyone helped (actually an easy job as not much food was left). And from that evening on we began a tradition of weekly meals together, all of us chipping in to pay for ingredients and taking turns cooking.
As the years have passed, I’ve kept in touch with nearly every one of the original guests of my Salzburg Thanksgiving dinner. And since then, on occasion, I’ve had the pleasure of hosting several of these dear friends of old at Thanksgiving dinners either at my home or the homes of other family members. And when this happens, I can’t help looking around the table and reminding myself how doubly blessed I am.
Leroy Bynum, dean of Albany State University’s College of Fine Arts and Humanities