Connecticut

Grateful for Thanksgivings Past, Present and Future

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Thanksgiving 2020 will be a challenge for many of us. If you like to spend time with family and friends, this might not be the year you can do that, safely that is. Travel is discouraged and everyone is being urged to keep their gatherings small.

That’s what the House family is doing this year. For the past ten years or so, Kara and I have hosted Thanksgiving, with a group of relatives and friends that numbers in the high twenties. We are not doing that this year. No need for the leaf in the table, and moving couches for another folding table, just us.

Despite the pandemic reducing the size of our holiday celebration, the scope of gratitude feels wider this year. I’m grateful for my family, my parents and friends. I’m blessed to have so many. I’m grateful for my health and grateful for the good things that happened in what many are calling a horrible year. I’m grateful for an amazing career at WFSB, and all the experiences I had there that have given me the optimism I feel today for the future, of which I am also very grateful for.

I’m also grateful for cherished memories of Thanksgiving past. Our first Thanksgiving that we hosted was back in 2003. Freshly married, Kara made an amazing turkey dinner, her first attempt at cooking the holiday bird. It was a big success. Among the guests that year? Denise. We had a blast.

We will miss our dear friend this year, but so grateful for a remarkable friendship. Here’s a text Denise sent me last Thanksgiving Day. She died 9 days later.

click to enlarge

By the way, she loved the word “pilgrim,” from the Pilgrim Furniture commercials and she had fun pronouncing it.

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  1. ONCE IN EVERY. LIFE. TIME SOMEONE COMES I N
    TO OUR LIVES AND WE ARE NEVER THE SAME, THEY TOUCH US IN A WAY WE HAV E NEVER BEEN TOUCHED. DENISE WAS THAT PERSON SHE LOVED YOUR FAMILY. SHE WAS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR, SHE WAS SENT FROM GOD. GOD CALLED HER. AS SAD AS IT IS. HE NEEDED HER MORE THEN YOU DID, WHEN YOU THINK HE TOOK HER TOO SOON, WE QUESTION THIS, DENISE TOUCHED SO MANY LIVES. PEOPLE LOVED HER. WHEN YOU THINK OF DENISE BE EVER SO GRATEFUL THAT SHE BLESSED YOUR LIFE, I THINK YOUR LEAVING WFSB WAS A GOD MOVE. YOU HAVE.BEGUN TO GROW AGAIN NEW JOB. AND YOUR GOI NG TO BE FINE,BECAUSE YOUR ARE DENNIS HOUSE YOUR GODS GIFT TO ALL OF US HERE IN. CT. WHEN GOD MADE YOU. HE THROUGH AWAY THE MOLD. BE SAFE, BE WELL .
    SR. VERONICA OSB

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  2. I’m still so sorry for the loss. Seems to have really affected everyone at Channel 3, especially Dennis. It’s still hard to believe. I was just thinking of her last week. May she Rest In Peace.

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  5. Hi Dennis and my family. Being quarantined certainly leaves a lot ot wonderful memories I will miss. Have a wonderful day. Love, GiGi

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  6. I enjoyed the foolery you two shared over the years. I can only imagine the void you felt and probably will for year’s to come. I wish you luck in your new endeavor.

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