Home for the holiday

By commercial standards Thanksgiving has often been the most forgotten holiday in the schedule, but still remains my favorite. In recent years Thanksgiving has gotten away from me a little bit. Yes, it is what some consider the start of the Christmas season, what with all the shopping and the arrival of Santa, but for me it has always been a time to stop and remember what I really am grateful for -- even if it is just getting through another year. When my brother an I were away at school Thanksgiving was the first big event we both came home for. I continued to come home for Thanksgiving for many years, even after I got married and started having children. About ten years ago I stopped going home for Thanksgiving. It wasn't really an "on purpose" thing, life was just so hectic and sometimes the trip over the bridge and through the marsh to Grandmother's house just seemed too much. I did Thanksgiving dinner at my house, I went to my brother's house, friends' houses, my in-laws, but I haven't been "home" for Thanksgiving in more than ten years now. This year we're ALL going to be having Thanksgiving together at my parents' house, and hopefully my mother has figured out how to get seven adults and seven children seated for dinner in her house. My brother and his family, my husband and the kids and I and my sister will all converge on my parents' house tomorrow for visiting and stuffing our faces -- YEAH!!! Getting together with family has always been the best part about Thanksgiving -- well, that, mom's stuffing and the three jello salads she has become famous for; oh, and the pumpkin pie with cool whip, let's not forget that. Perhaps I should fast all day today in order to prepare myself. Yeah, fasting and elastic waiste pants, that's the ticket.

Well, as we remember all that we are thankful for and watch the kick off of the holiday season by way of the Thanksgiving Day Parade and arrival of Santa, and enjoy our families tomorrow, I am wishing all my friends and family that I won't be able to get together with a very Happy Thanksgiving Day.