Thanksgiving

I know the calendar says it is already Thanksgiving, but somehow it doesn't seem like it...no stress!

Seriously, for almost 27 out of the last 31 years, we have had the large family Thanksgiving at our house. This year we are having Thanksgiving at my daughter in laws house, and Christmas at my daughters house. All the stress of getting the house clean and decorated, shopping for and then cooking the food, then cleaning up afterwards...not there! I'm not really sure how I feel about that. On the one hand it is really nice to not have all the stress; but I have discovered I think I am really missing the stress???? I know I am pretty weird!

Usually I have a list of what needs to be done and when. I am usually glued to my list. I am barking out orders and my house has wonderful smells of cornbread, sage and lemons. I am usually making a last minute shopping list of those items I either forgot about or am purposely waiting for the last minute to get. The kids even get lists of what they are supposed to do. One would be in charge of making sure the table is set, one would be in charge of making sure all the serving dishes have little slips of paper telling what is supposed to go in there.

How I miss that! I am making a shopping run in a bit. I need to get the fresh fixings for my herb butter to put on the turkey before he goes into the oven tomorrow. See, my job is to roast the turkey. That's it, just the turkey. Sure he is the star of the show, but only a small part of the actual preparations. (and even though I will admit to being a bit of a control freak, that is not what this is about...just in case my hubby reads this!)

I think what I am really missing is the tradition of the stress! Not the stress itself. I thrive on traditions. In a way I grew up coveting Catholics. Their religion is filled with traditions. Not so much mine! Growing up, the only traditions we really had, had nothing to do with the holidays! Every Friday night we (kids) got to choose what we had for dinner. It was always either pizza or hamburgers. Not the fast food kind. The get it at the grocery store and make it from scratch kind. Every Friday was grocery day. We would bring the groceries in from the car and put it all away for Mom. Our reward was to choose what we wanted to eat. Of course I had to cook it, but it was really fun to have that power! Of course I will never forget those 16 oz Pepsis. That was the only time we were allowed sodas. Ah the memories!

I know Tasha will be making a perfect Thanksgiving dinner. She always does. Sometimes I think she was Martha Stewart in a past life! She loves to entertain and she is really great at it. And it will be great to relax and not have anything to worry about. But one tradition will be missing...I ALWAYS burn something! My husband is joking he is going to burn some marshmallows to put on the table...

Here is hoping you and yours have a happy and joyous Thanksgiving. Please remember all the wonderful things you have to be thankful for and all the wonderful people you have to be thankful for. And most importantly, don't forget who to give the thanks to!

Nini