We just finished Thanksgiving 2023. And yes, it was as usual unlike other Thanksgiving dinners we’d had before.
Yes, the menu was still basically the same as with other traditional dinners, with turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and other vegetable side dishes. The turkey was deep fried rather than roasted. But we still had my mom’s cinnamon buns made by my daughter with both of her daughters helping. The pumpkin pie wasn’t homemade, but it was delicious.
Our son-in-law deep fried the turkey while Ben supervised, and while our daughter took one of our grandchildren to urgent care screaming at the top of her lungs with a bad earache. Fortunately they weren’t busy, and the medicine kicked in quickly, and she was actually able to eat dinner with us when they got back.
Of course the grandchildren ate only what they liked, with no one forcing them to try anything they didn’t want. After all, it was a meal of thanks; thanks for family, and for all of us being able to be together. Other family members weren’t there, because they were at other family members’ dinners, or were no longer with us. It wasn’t what Thanksgiving meals of years past were like, and most likely never will be again, but it was what it was, and exactly what it should’ve been.
And this year we had our newest grandson having his very first Thanksgiving. He enjoyed little bites of turkey and rolls and mashed potatoes. And then of course, his mother had to take a zillion pictures of him to remember the day by, including some with his two sisters. Of course by that time he’d had enough and we gave this great picture Ashley titled “It’s my first Thanksgiving and I’ll cry if I want to!” And yes he did! But he’s still adorable!
And afterwards we realized we didn’t even get a picture of all of us together!
No Black Friday shopping this year though. We didn’t want to fight the crowds, and actually I had ordered most of the grandkids’ gifts already and was ready to start wrapping them.
So we did our annual gingerbread house instead, which will be another story, but let’s just say the pre-assembled ones are more than worth the money! At least for our daughter.
As I’ve said before, I do miss the big family gatherings we used to have with 10-12 of us all together, but things change over the years.
Regardless, we still had so much to be thankful for this year, even though it wasn’t a Hallmark movie channel kind of day. But then again, those Hallmark movies are a representation of what writers imagine holidays should be, and not the way they really are.
But one thing remains the same. Families are important, whether there are two of us, four of us, or in our case this year, seven of us. Keep that in mind through the rest of the holiday season and keep the attitude of gratitude every day. And stay thankful.