Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I have always liked the slower pace. A time to gather with family and friends for a great meal, watch football and eat some pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving does not have all the stress of hanging Christmas lights in the freezing cold and running around to crowded shopping malls and parking lots.
For many years, my family celebrated Thanksgiving at my father-in-laws deer hunting camp. Their hunting camp was a tiny shack in the woods with no electricity or running water, and a smoky wood fireplace in the corner for heat. The whole extended family would come together with each group bringing one of the Thanksgiving dishes – mashed potatoes, cranberry dressing, squash with brown sugar and butter, dinner rolls and a giant turkey roasted on the grill. After the meal, the whole family would gather outside for a picture and a new photo was added to the annual collection. Later in the afternoon, about half of the family would leave the camp to begin holiday shopping, and the other half would stay and hunt for the remainder of the Wisconsin deer hunting season.
As much as the great food, I have always liked the theme of Thanksgiving too. A time to reflect on our lives and be thankful for all our blessings. In recent years, our family started a new tradition of each person saying what they are thankful for during the blessing of the meal. We have so much to be thankful for and I think it is important to take a moment to recognize the family and friends that we share the good times with.
I have a lot to be thankful for in my own life. I have a particularly good job serving our clients at Woodmen Financial Resources. I have a beautiful wife and two teenage boys who are active in school, sports, and Boy Scouts.
I have been an avid hunter and fisherman my whole life. My dreams are filled with thoughts of gobbling turkeys, big bronze back bass, trophy muskies and big whitetail bucks. As much as the COVID-19 pandemic has changed all our lives, the outdoors has still been a great place to get away from it all and pursue our passions.
Having deer hunted my whole life, I pride myself on harvesting a deer each year and using the venison to feed my family and friends. It has become a big part of who I am.
For the last 25 years, I have hunted at my uncle Bill Nelson’s deer camp in the wilds of northern Michigan. It is a great place to hunt and we are fortunate that there is a great population of deer and turkeys to pursue. Although I have shot a lot of deer over the years, I have never really gotten a big buck. After seeing other people around me get one, each year I say to myself, “someday I’m going to get a big buck”. Well, this year it finally happened!
Opening morning of the Michigan hunt brought bad weather with high winds and down pouring rain. It was so rainy in the pre-dawn darkness that I thought about staying in camp by the warm fire. As all the hunters made their way into the wet woods I did too. Luckily, I did not have to wait long in the rain when the biggest buck I have ever seen while hunting stepped out. He was a big eight pointer with beautiful chocolate antlers. He weighed 192 pounds on our buck pole scale!
As we transition from the Thanksgiving holiday to Christmas and New Year’s I want you to know I am thankful for my family, friends, coworkers and clients and I’m going to keep the spirit of Thanksgiving alive for the whole year!
Chris Grassel