Turkey Day

I know I committed to writing thankful posts everyday through Thanksgiving, but I was too busy yesterday getting cleaning, cooking, eating, and entertaining to get on the computer for more than five minutes. But I am thankful that our holiday was perfectly lovely. Honestly I felt a little tiny bit like skipping Thanksgiving this year, or at the very least ordering take out, but it worked out and ended up being a nice day. Next year is going to be different though. I'm thinking the Thanksgiving Day parade downtown Detroit, followed by Boston Market. Or maybe Up North at my father-in-law's cabin with turkey sandwiches.

Bethany stuffs the bird.

We didn't go overboard cleaning, only invited four guests, and it's a fairly simple meal to cook. Plus we ate on Chinette plates. Easy enough, right? The worst part is the clean-up, which, ummmm, I'm still working on. But sometimes I feel confined and suffocated by traditions, instead of comforted by them. I don't really care all that much about a holiday centered around a huge meal. As you all know, I am thankful, and I do like the emphasis on thankfulness, but that's something that needs to be happening on a daily basis, not just once a year.

Connor & his first 3 pieces of pie. Yes, three.

As a kid I always hated Thanksgiving because it was boring. All my friends were busy with their families, there was nothing on television except parade coverage and football, and there were never any other kids having dinner with us. Dullsville. Since Chris and I have been together Thanksgiving has improved drastically in my book. Before kids, he and I used to head Up North after dinner and spend the weekend roughing it in whatever hunting cabin his dad was renting that year (before he bought his own), sometimes dealing with no indoor plumbing. For some reason, we thought that was fun. Later, when his dad got his cabin, we would go up there with his parents and have the traditional meal at the cabin. Since we've had kids, we've spent at least five Thanksgivings in Florida with my in-laws and Chris's brother. Last year we spent 13 hours at the Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving Day, which beats sitting home and gorging on turkey any day. I should note, however, that we did properly celebrate Thanksgiving the next day, and we have never skipped a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner, even on vacation.

Yesterday was only the second time Chris and I have hosted and cooked the big turkey dinner ourselves. It ended up being a good day, and I'm pretty certain my kids will never look back on Thanksgiving as being sole contender for Most Boring Day of the Year on an annual basis. Maybe the traditional meal aspect of it is important for them, but some years I'd be happy to skip it.

After dinner we had another dance party in the living room. I dug out Lucy's old ballet slippers for Mattie, and although they're a little too big, she was so excited to wear real dance shoes. And it always warms my heart to see those $75 dance recital costumes getting some wear. We all played a couple games and watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving specials, which taught me more about the Mayflower and pilgrims than I ever remember learning in school.


Today the kids went to see the new Muppet's movie with Chris's mom while he and I did a little shopping and went out to lunch. Then Bethany had a basketball game, which Chris, his mom, and Lucy went to while I stayed home with Connor and Mathilda and tried unsuccessfully to get some online Christmas shopping done. Later on Chris and I did a little more shopping. We got a few pretty good Black Friday deals,yet we didn't deal with terrible crowds or lines since we went after the mad rush. 


I am content to know that the real weekend is just beginning, and we still have two days off before it's time to go back to school.


I hope everyone else had a good Thanksgiving holiday too! Did you do anything special?