Mari's ANs: Sammy and Ilna, love you to the moon. REAL McRollers and Readers, thanks doesn't seem like enough, but thank you always.

Sammy's ANs: Mari and Ilna-you guys are the best. Thanks for all the love and support McRollers

Sweeter with Time

Steve pushed a shopping cart down the aisle at Foodland while Angie darted ahead. They had decided to get a jump on holiday grocery shopping in order to avoid the crowds closer to the big day.

"Daddy, can we get cookies? They have the marshmallow ones."

Steve chuckled, shaking his head as he caught up with her. "I think we should focus on real food. We're almost done. Besides, aren't you baking cookies with Grandma tomorrow?"

Angie grinned and nodded. "Yes! Three kinds." She held us as many fingers. "But I don't think we're making any with marshmallows." She tilted her head in a way that never failed to remind him of Catherine. "Joanie loves marshmallows. Maybe we should get some since she's coming to our house for Thanksgiving."

Steve looked at his daughter skeptically. "So you want to get them and put them in the cupboard until Aunt Mary, Uncle Aaron, Joanie and Aunt Deb get here on Friday?"

Angie pondered her answer for a few seconds. "Yes?"

Steve chuckled. "Is that a question or a statement?"

Angie grinned. "Whichever one means I can get the cookies."

"Fine. Get them." Steve had long ago learned which battles were worth fighting with Angie and which weren't.

"Thank you, Daddy." Angie put the cookies in the cart. "Can I see the list again?"

Steve passed her his phone and she read the next item that wasn't checked off. "Cranberries and stuffing stuff."

"Stuffing stuff?" He chuckled and she did, too.

"That's funny! Stuffing stuff… stuffing stuff," the little girl sang off key while they gathered non perishables they could stock up on now before the shelves were emptied by holiday shoppers.

When Steve lifted her to grab a box of bouillon cubes from a top shelf, she popped them in the cart and looked up at her father. "I love Thanksgiving. And that Joanie and Uncle Aaron and Aunt Mary and Aunt Deb are coming and that everybody's eating at our house! I'm very very excited."

"Me, too," he said and bent to kiss her head.

"Daddy, tell me about a Thanksgiving from a long time ago when you and Mommy were young."

Steve barked a laugh. "Let's see…" he pretended to think. "When we were young, like when there were dinosaurs?"

"Daddy!" She giggled. "You're being silly. I mean a real story, not a made up one."

He smiled and nodded. "Okay. How about one where we had no turkey or stuffing because we didn't expect to be on leave together?"

He remembered that particular holiday very well.

"Let's grab the last few things on the list and check out and I'll tell you the story while we load the groceries in the truck," he said.

Angie stuck out her hand. "Deal!"

"Now tell me about the Thanksgiving with no turkey or stuffing, please," Angie said after they had checked out and were headed towards the truck.

"OK," Steve smiled. "Where was I? Oh right. The year I'm thinking of it was just me and your mommy. Like I said, we didn't have any of the usual foods. No turkey, no stuffing, no pumpkin pie."

Angie's eyes were wide. "How come?"

"Because Thanksgiving is an American holiday and we were both deployed. Mommy had gotten leave and so I requested leave, too. I hopped a transport from Afghanistan to meet her in Italy, where she was."

"Oh, Italy, that's where Nonna's family came from!"

"That's right," Steve said as he checked that she was buckled into the truck.

"If there was no turkey…" Angie's eyes narrowed in thought, her curiosity piqued. "What did you eat?"

"Chicken," he said, his expression softening as he recalled the memory. "We picked one up at a market and got whatever side dishes we thought would heat up well in a hotel room with a tiny kitchen. We asked about boxed potatoes and I thought the Italian woman who owned the market was going to cry." Looking at his daughter's expression, he added, "I'm joking, but she couldn't understand why anyone would make potatoes from a box. We ended up with zucchini and some little potatoes, and I remember them being delicious."

Angie nodded. "So you couldn't have a turkey but you got chicken?"

"Exactly. We were separated a lot by the navy then, so we were very happy to spend the time together. We didn't care too much about what we ate." He glanced down at her. "It was like an adventure. We made it feel special in our own way."

"Did you play games after dinner? Or watch movies?" she asked as they drove along on the way home. Those were some of her favorite post-meal activities on Thanksgiving.

He grinned to himself. "Ummm, yeah, we played a few games before and after dinner and then we took a walk to find some dessert."

"Cookies?" Angie asked with absolute sincerity.

"Actually, yeah. Biscotti, like Nonna makes."

"Did you eat them in a dessert restaurant? With someone who came to your table and played…what's that thing that looks like a guitar only smaller?"

"A violin," Steve said.

"Yes. One of those." Angie met his eyes in the rearview mirror. "Aunt Angela told me all about a restaurant she went to in Italy where they do that."

Again he smiled. "No violins. No restaurant. We took the desserts back to our hotel and had them with espresso, the strong coffee Uncle Danno likes."

"And you had fun because you were with Mommy and you love each other so much." It was a statement, not a question, her little voice sincere and earnest.

"You know, I loved her even more that day than ever before. She taught me holidays aren't about the food or the decorations; they're about being with the people you care about."

"That's cause Mommy's so smart."

"She definitely is."

"And we love Thanksgiving because it's the first holiday we celebrated with DJ in our family, even though I was too little to remember before he got there," Angie said.

"And every year, we get to remember how lucky we are to have our family."

"Hey Daddy?"

"What, baby girl?"

"Did you and Mommy cook all the food that time?"

Steve smiled. "Everything but the chicken, that was cooked already. But we made the veggies in the little hotel kitchen. Your mommy was full of ideas and she made it very special."

As they pulled into the driveway, she asked, "Do you think Mommy remembers all the foods from that Thanksgiving?"

"I know she does," Steve smiled.

"And after you ate yummy food and played games and did you dance?"

Steve chuckled, "We didn't dance, but it was a pretty fantastic holiday because we were together."

TBC thanks for reading

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