Another Perfect Thanksgiving

It's been a couple of years since I have written about Thanksgiving.  All the other posts are under the Thanksgiving tag.  I am really that tired right now that I am not going to put in the hyperlinks!  I digress.  I didn't have to host dinner, I just had to make a side dish and grandma's apple cake.  How easy is that?  Seriously, it was awesome...I feel a new tradition coming on. My mother hosted dinner, and it was fabulous.  It's always fun to spend time with my siblings.

Today was a beautiful day.  The sun was out, the sky was so blue!  It's the end of November and the weather has been amazing.  I had a nice run, called friends and relatives and enjoyed having a day off.  I think this is the closest to doing nothing I have had on a holiday.  I had an opportunity to reflect on all the things I am thankful for: My husband, sons, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, family and friends.  I am gainfully and happily employed and have adequate food and shelter.  We may not have the newest baubles and trinkets, but we have love.  I am wealthy beyond measure not monetarily, but in the intangible ways that matter. My life is far from perfect but I honestly couldn't ask for better and for that, I am thankful!

The Perfect Thanksgiving III

Here we are again!  Another Thanksgiving come and gone.  This year I must say was very interesting.  For one, the Mister was not here.  He went off to surprise his parents in Kansas.  For two, I did not host dinner at my house.  I know.  Weird.  Practically un-American huh?  You know, this year I just didn't have it in me. It has been a long, emotionally draining year.  The tank is a little low people.   Long before I even knew Mister would be in the land of Oz, just thinking about cooking, and making my house company presentable and all the other craziness that comes with me doing dinner made me tired and long for a nap.

Now come on, if you have been reading my blog then you know I love Thanksgiving and well, am the Hostess with the Mostest.... (The Perfect Thanksgiving II and The Perfect Thanksgiving I   Honestly at first everything just seemed off and not right about not hosting.  For a very brief, and I do mean brief-second, I felt guilty. Like I was betraying the day and everyone in the family!  Like I said, that was brief.

They day turned out perfect, even though I didn't see my dad (he got sick just before he was to come by), my daughter in law and Grand baby weren't there (Grand baby knows her limitations and told her mom and dad she needed a nap, and DIL broke bread with her family), and The Mister was in the land of Oz.  This was the first time in our 25+ years together that we weren't together for a holiday, and I miss him terribly.

I woke up later than I had wanted, got the potato salad and cake (the only things I was responsible for...) done later than I wanted, but hey they got done! Dinner was fabulous, I love my family so much.  I have to say though, the BEST parts of the day really were simple.  Cooking with the youngest son and talking about life, pretending not to peek at the way he makes salmon...the best rosemary salmon ever I might add.  Witnessing his stroke of genius idea to make champagne cupcakes...hilarious!  He is so smart, and so funny.  It was absolutely priceless.   The second part was hanging out with the Grand baby after dinner.  She and I decorated the Christmas tree and let me tell you, the look in her eyes when she opened the boxes and saw the ornaments...words can't describe, you just would have had to be there.  We talked and she told me where to put the ornaments (though at one point she was calling them 'decorates' instead of ornaments).

The day is gone now.  We completed our task of decorating the tree.  Right now Grand baby is sleeping soundly next to me.  I had grand plans to go to the craft store with her in tow but decided that was not going to be the best thing to do after she told me she didn't want to go.  Something about Brown Thursday, craft store and late hours with a 3 year old didn't sound too appealing to me either.

In a few hours we will wake up and start a new adventure.  We have a few more things to buy for the tree, she asked if we can buy an ornament for her sister Tatiana who is due to be born in February.  She didn't think it fair that her brother and sister who are in heaven got ornaments but Tatiana didn't.  I didn't even know where to take that conversation so I just told her okay, we will go get one and she can choose it.  Yep, priming the pump because I can already see the resistance when she realizes we are going to the the craft store!   I can't wait see what wonders await us.  I am so grateful that it was another perfect Thanksgiving.

Deck the Halls....

Slacker. It is December 3rd and I don't have one Christmas decoration out. As a matter of fact the things I bought on Black Friday from Joann? They are still in the trunk...(Though I don't think that I bought any thing to decorate with, but I don't remember) I always have the house completely decked out by the day after Thanksgiving. As a matter of fact, on Thanksgiving night I am usually in the basement rustling around pulling stuff out staying up until all hours making things just so.

So, and I think this is terrible but oh well, I am thinking to myself 'when is it too late to put up decorations, and can I get away with not doing it?' Horrors of Horrors! I actually thought that!! Pretty shocking I know. Don't worry. I got over it and I plan to decorate today.

The Perfect Thanksgiving

Here it is. Another Thanksgiving come and gone. I can't help but marvel at the fact that I am not yet 40, yet I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner in my home for almost half my life so far. When I say hosted, I don't just mean everybody come over and use my house, I mean working-myself-into-a-frenzy-cooking everything from scratch-making sure-everything is perfect-oh my goodness is this something Martha (or my mother)would do? hosting. It made for many of tense situations between my husband and children when they were not in place...(hubby always seemed to disappear somewhere in the house about dawn, rarely to reappear until the guests were gone). I think back to all those years getting so caught up in the little details that I missed some wonderful opportunities to just be. Be with my grandmothers and great aunt and uncle who are no longer with us. Be with my family just enjoying them and catching up on their lives....Instead of lurking in the kitchen....

It's actually been two years since I have hosted at our home. When the youngest graduated from high school, I decided no more. Time for a change. That year we actually went nowhere! Hubby and I stayed home and watched the boxed set of a season of the TV show Lost. I didn't cook and it was okay! I don't even know if we ate! Last year dinner was hosted by my aunt and uncle. It was so nice to just show up somewhere with a dish and just eat and socialize without the pressure (self inflicted of course) to make everything just so.

This year though, despite telling everyone it was not going to be at my house, It was at my house. Only because my aunt made plans to host it at her clubhouse in the development they live in but somehow it was double booked and she had to be the one to lose out. How could I tell my favorite aunt no you can't have it at my house?? (in good conscience that is, I guess I could have said no...)

It was okay though. I guess technically, I didn't host because she made all the arrangements, set the time and planned the menu. All I did was make a turkey (and not that good of one either). I made a pie and a cake (because I wanted to). That was it. I used a piece of fabric....(the ends weren't even finished!!) for the table cloth. I was going to use pinking shears....I know!!! I didn't even sew it!(Mummy had a fit, but in the end even she was okay with it). I had multiple tables and the linens DIDN'T EVEN MATCH! (One was actually an old curtain...) I didn't care that the tables and chairs didn't match, I didn't care that I hadn't mopped the floor or vacuumed the rug (why?? It was going to get dirty anyway and no one was looking that closely at the floor and if they did...well WHATEVER) People, It was so liberating to just go with the flow. I enjoyed my family, I caught up on their lives. I was relaxed and really had a chance to think about how blessed I am.

Funny how life is. Now the kids have their own lives and their significant others to take into consideration when planning for the holidays. I have to respect that and not put pressure on them to make choices that will cause them to dread the holidays. I am so okay with that. This year finally I realized that there is perfection in imperfection. I couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving.