I am so excited to be heading home for Thanksgiving! I know, I go quite often, but I love Thanksgiving. It's relaxing, fun, great food with Christmas just around the corner! Of course, spending it close to where the first Thanksgiving actually was makes it seem a little more authentic, even if it is still 2 hours away!
Strangely, most of my memories of Thanksgiving center around my father. It was the only day he actually helped in the kitchen, possibly Christmas, too, but Thanksgiving was more his thing. He would typically get doughnuts for breakfast, help with the turkey and "test" the gravy. He would be the first at the table to partake of the traditional Thanksgiving meal, mostly so he would be the first finished and first one back in front of the TV for some traditional football! My father would later lead the way back to the kitchen for leftovers, only to return to his spot in front of the TV with them in his lap. Ah, Thanksgiving!
In many ways, I do miss this sort of traditional Thanksgiving, but I'm also thankful it will be different for my children. We have spent most Thanksgivings with my family in CT, getting up early to make the food, T taking the girls to the park if it's nice, playing outside if it's nice, hanging out with Uncle D and Aunt J, sharing a meal with friends, whoever might pop in. On occasion we have interrupted our Thanksgiving with other outside activities, serving meals to the homeless, joining friends at a halfway house, etc.
Last year, Kt decided to start her own tradition. I found a journal she started just after she did this last year. Her only entry in the journal was about her Thanksgiving "activadee" she started - it cracked me up! She must have been mighty proud of it, as she wrote an entire page explaining all the complexities of this activity, which none of us really understood. Just reading it, though, I realize how important these traditions are to children and for them later in life. I'm thinking this year we will try to turn her idea into something manageable, something we can hold onto for later years to remember just what we were doing in 2005. Sometimes Christmas is a bit too hectic for an "activadee" like this, but Thanksgiving I think is the perfect time.
I'll let you know what we decide to do with everyone and how we are going to archive this new tradition. I'm excited! and I know Kt will be, too! Happy Turkey Day!
Strangely, most of my memories of Thanksgiving center around my father. It was the only day he actually helped in the kitchen, possibly Christmas, too, but Thanksgiving was more his thing. He would typically get doughnuts for breakfast, help with the turkey and "test" the gravy. He would be the first at the table to partake of the traditional Thanksgiving meal, mostly so he would be the first finished and first one back in front of the TV for some traditional football! My father would later lead the way back to the kitchen for leftovers, only to return to his spot in front of the TV with them in his lap. Ah, Thanksgiving!
In many ways, I do miss this sort of traditional Thanksgiving, but I'm also thankful it will be different for my children. We have spent most Thanksgivings with my family in CT, getting up early to make the food, T taking the girls to the park if it's nice, playing outside if it's nice, hanging out with Uncle D and Aunt J, sharing a meal with friends, whoever might pop in. On occasion we have interrupted our Thanksgiving with other outside activities, serving meals to the homeless, joining friends at a halfway house, etc.
Last year, Kt decided to start her own tradition. I found a journal she started just after she did this last year. Her only entry in the journal was about her Thanksgiving "activadee" she started - it cracked me up! She must have been mighty proud of it, as she wrote an entire page explaining all the complexities of this activity, which none of us really understood. Just reading it, though, I realize how important these traditions are to children and for them later in life. I'm thinking this year we will try to turn her idea into something manageable, something we can hold onto for later years to remember just what we were doing in 2005. Sometimes Christmas is a bit too hectic for an "activadee" like this, but Thanksgiving I think is the perfect time.
I'll let you know what we decide to do with everyone and how we are going to archive this new tradition. I'm excited! and I know Kt will be, too! Happy Turkey Day!
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