Thanksgiving special

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Of course I spent too much time in the kitchen. Sure every year I think I am going to just whip the meal together and have all this fabulous play time with the boys...but unfortunately that doesn't really happen. In my perfect world it would. I am more of a content spectator of them on that day. And isn't that a day of reflection anyway?

At my age it has really become a day of traditions and most are special. I look forward to it all even the night before. The night before Thanksgiving is now about reading Thanksgiving books to the boys, then going over to my mom's to help her make the stuffed artichokes. I don't know if this was just a way for her to keep me from partying with my friends, but we started doing this when I was a teenager and haven't stopped since. Then on Thanksgiving morning I put the Macy's parade on the television with the excitement of a little girl... a little girl sipping coffee that is. I have figured out that cooking a turkey breast is sooooo much easier and quicker than cooking the whole turkey, so instead of rushing through the cooking process , I can now leisurely prepare everything from apps to the main meal, to desserts, all while the parade is playing. I occasionally get to peek at the boys helping their dad or just playing around the house. Once the guests arrive and the meal is out on the table, I usually give thanks and say a few words...very few since my crowd usually has no patience for my long speeches. But I love our after dinner tradition that we started three years ago. I have a white fabric tablecloth that I spread out across the dining room table and we all grab pens and write what we are thankful for. We sign our names and date it. The kids have started doing little doodles along with theirs. Everyone has to participate. It is very special. This year a first time guest was really interested in reading some from the years prior. He read mine from last year and it really moved him. So I read it over again. It was about my grandmother who had passed a few months prior to that Thanksgiving. It read to the effect that although I was sad, I was grateful to have had so many years with her, but I will always miss her. It brought back my memories of last Thanksgiving when I set a special plate for her and wrote that. I also reflected on many of the Thanksgiving I had with my grandmother. At that moment I sure was glad I had that tablecloth and those special traditions. I just hope my boys will find their "special" as they grow older.

So both Jake and Evan are chatting away as I work fiercely on my Christmas decorations this weekend. Then they laugh and I hear, "ask mom." They both want to know how Santa can fit through the chimneys with such a fat belly. My parents chime in with, "he just does." They saved me momentarily, but I'll have to work on a better answer for next time.