Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thankful


Thanksgiving has never been the most memorable holiday for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the turkey goodness -- but it's never held the excitement of it's neighbors, Halloween and Christmas. Maybe I didn't have a thankful enough heart. Maybe I was too young to understand just how wonderful a day in a warm house full of food with the people you love most in the whole world can be. Maybe it's because I hadn't yet been taught all the things, painful and wonderful, I have been taught this year.
That being said, it could be any of those reasons that this year, Thanksgiving sounds so wonderful to me. I have so much to be thankful for. I have ten trillion reasons that I can rejoice sitting around that dinner table, even if the feast was generic macaroni and cheese and it was just me and The Double B and our children. That makes me feel ten trillion times luckier that I will be eating a real life Sperry-style Thanksgiving feast, surrounded by my own little family, my wonderful parents, and my three brothers with their families. We have become varying states of awesome chaos -- and it's totally cool.
I love my family. Plain and simple.
I don't dread holidays. I look forward to them. I can't wait until we're all together again, when we're all Home. When we're laughing, crying, angry, happy, sad -- they are all I've got. And I don't need anything more.

The pumpkin pie is already delivered at Grandma's house, and tomorrow morning I'll be making stuffed mushrooms and homemade rolls. Tonight The Double B made creme broulle (I know, I know -- and he's all mine, ladies) and we'll be taking it over for a pie party at our other Grandma's house. Two nephews are running around with Kaje and Liv right now, half watching Star Wars and half wrestling with their funnest uncle. I love this. Chaos reigns. And I love it.

We always spent Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family, since it was a pretty casual affair with my Dad's side. I loved being surrounded by cousins and aunts and uncles.So I guess it's only natural that I feel a little lonely for our family Matriarch, there are things to be said. The the way it felt to sit next to her and having her hovering in the kitchen, dipping her finger of steel right into the boiling gravy to make sure the flavor and texture was just right. But I also know just how much she wants us to love Thanksgiving anyway. And personally, her life -- and the fact that I got to be a part of it -- it's one more thing to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you are all surrounded by people who love you.

3 comments:

Tink said...

Great post. Something about Thanksgiving has made miss our Grandma's more than usual as well. It almost doesn't seem right without them.

Tina Williams said...

Could I please have some creme brulee? That is all I can say -- wow -- where did you get that man?

Ducksoup said...

i am super thankful i have an awesome cousin like you and one of the finest bloggers you could ever ask for. i miss seeing you on thanksgiving. happy feasting to you. love yah cous!