How are you doing right now?
Thanksgiving thoughts….
How was your Thanksgiving? I am hoping it was time spent enjoying some yummy food, gathered with friends and family.
Waking up on Thanksgiving morning, before my sister and youngest kiddo arrived, the journal was pulled out and I did some writing as my thoughts cruised down memory lane on Thanksgivings past.
My thoughts trickled back to a time when my little family spent Thanksgiving with my friend Jennie and her little family. We were both single moms and spent many special times together. One Thanksgiving in particular comes to mind……
We decided to cook a turkey at her house, and partway through, the bird, in a moment of revenge I am sure, poked a hole in the aluminum pan. We were alerted by the smoke pouring out of her stove and the fire alarm going off. We put the bird in a different pan and took it to my house to finish cooking. While the smoke cleared, and the oven was cleaned out as best as possible, her boyfriend, now husband of many years, cooked a goose in the now cleaned oven. When I figured the turkey was done, I brought it back over to her house and about the same time Jay pulled out the goose, Well the goose had shrunk and was very over cooked, and as hard as a rock. When the turkey was carved, we noted the turkey was under cooked. Jay ate the goose because he didn’t want to have it die for nothing. We ate parts of the turkey that were done. The best part was we made do and had a great time, that left us with some fun memories to look back on and a good laugh.
Okay, it wasn’t this bad, but you get the idea.
The very first time I cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner by myself, was when I was about 21 years of age or so. I lived in an old house that had been converted into four apartments. My apartment was on the main level and consisted of a little living room, kitchen with a small table for two, bedroom, and a bathtub with a rainbow painted on the wall over it. It was in this little kitchen I attempted the full spread of a Thanksgiving meal. Now, in the apartment above me lived a widowed elderly lady, and we had become fast friends. I invited her over for a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner. We had the best time, just the two of us, sitting at that little table, enjoying a wonderful meal together. Years later I still have the sweet thank you note she gave me.
Thanksgivings, between, then and now, spent with my kids, warms my heart, and are full of many good memories.
There are a couple of meals spent with in-laws that don’t bring me warm and fuzzy feelings but those I prefer to sweep under the proverbial rug and move on to happier thoughts.
This year my youngest son Tristan and my sis Susan made for a happy meal shared together. It was a combined effort for breakfast and the supper fixings that filled the house with all the smells that remind you of the amazing meal to come. We all ate our fill and then some. Moaned about how full we were and then had a piece of pumpkin pie with homemade whip cream. Bentley got to lick out his fair share of pans and I sent home lots of leftovers with Tristan and Susan. My house held the smells of the Thanksgiving meal for the next three days. That tells me there was a lot of love that occurred in the making of that meal.
Christmas Thoughts….
Rolling into the Christmas season, the house is now decorated with twinkle lights, lots of candles throughout my home, Christmas decorations, and of course the tree. I love how the house just seems homier with candles lit and the Christmas tree lights to add comfort to a chilly living room. Tristan came over to help me decorate the tree this year, with James Taylors Christmas CD playing in the background, Tristan’s favorite tree decorating music.
Warm knitted blankets are drape over the backs of the couches, the angel puzzle on the table is barely started. Boxes of packages are packed and ready to mail to the kiddo’s that will be celebrating with their families many, many miles away. Susan, Tristan, and I are planning the Christmas meal, that I always prefer to be easy and not a day spent living in the kitchen over pots and pans. I will do the traditional zoom call with the kids and granddaughter as gifts are opened and new memories will be made.
I do miss the Christmas mornings, from long ago, when the munchkins were little. They would pile into my bed, in the early morning light, with their stockings. There would be many Ahs and Ooos from them, with their bedhead hair and sleepy but exited eyes glittering at the promise of Christmas morning. I hold these memories fondly. Even when they were little, and money was scarce. One year we had a little Charlie Brown Christmas tree given to us a few days before Christmas. I ran to the store but they were out of tree stands, so I put the tree in the mop bucket with some water and tied it to the weight bench, in the living room. Yes, the weight bench, that and the couch were my choices, being the only large items in the room. It worked quite well, and we were so happy to have a tree.
So, as we all chip away through December and into a new year, I hope you allow for time in the middle of the hustle of this season to take in a deep breath. To stop for a moment to enjoy the Christmas lights decorating the town and maybe your home. Take some time to make a snow angel in the fresh snow, you are never too old or too young to make snow angels, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. If you have Littles running about your feet, while you are trying to pick up the pile of wrapping paper in your living room, remember, this is fleeting, and take time to enjoy the moment.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!