Thanksgiving

Well today is Cyber Monday which means we have completed the 2016 Thanksgiving festivities.  We celebrated at home this year with our family of 6 and our best friends family.  We call it our Friendsgiving dinner.  It has become sort of a tradition.  Neither of us have family in the area and love spending the holiday together and have done it for the past several years.  We have spent the holiday at their home, at our home, and at an extended stay hotel after our friend's heart transplant.  We have made many memories together and are hopefully able to continue to do so for years to come.  Who did you spend Thanksgiving dinner with this year?

In years past I have spent the holiday in Minnesota with my father's side of the family.  I love the traditions that form over years and years of family holiday gatherings: swedish meatballs in the white bowl with black polka-dots, the marble game while dinner is cooking,  coffee and pastries for breakfast at the lodge, and meeting the new members of our ever growing family.  I always feel like this gathering is one that goes off without a hitch, every time.  My aunts are pros at hosting a flawless family gathering.  Everyone visits, laughs and enjoys the day in a calm, warm, and inviting environment.  I aspire to host like these women some day.  I love that the lodge where we hold Thanksgiving now (no longer at Grandma's as our family is too large and overwhelming for her to host us all) sets right at the edge of Mille Lacs Lake.  The water will be partially frozen and snow most likely on the ground.  The air will smell crisply of bitter cold and lake water while the lodge smells of yummy treats, roasting turkey and 2 dozen different sides.  Children playing, cousins catching up and grandma watching over us all.  Cherished memories are made on days like these.

I have also spent the holiday in Arkansas with my mother's side of the family.  There are also southern traditions that have developed:  Uncle Rick's yummy yeast rolls, old movies playing in the living room, Grandpa yelling about... something.  The atmosphere here is different but equally enjoyable.  My southern family has a way of filling up an entire room, floor to ceiling and wall to wall.  12 people setting at a table will be having 14 different conversations with 10 people talking at once and no one knowing what anyone else is saying.  It is one of my favorite things to just set and listen without speaking and try to follow all of the strands of conversation and the criss-crossing of conversational lines as someone inevitably answers someone else who was not speaking to them and then the chaos ensues.

Now that I am a mother of 4 and live 400 miles from my parents I have begun to host Thanksgiving at home with friends and sometimes family that travel every year to two to join us.  I can only hope that my girls will experience traditions as they form, fond and funny family moments and cherished memories as I did at our Thanksgiving dinners over the years.  I will always have those memories and hope to build many more with my girls.  I am thankful for that.  I hope my girls will remember that we always have Grandma Suzie's stuffing, Nana's 7 layer bars and Daddy's stinky smoked oysters.  I hope they notice that I always use the square white serving platter for the Turkey.  I pray they remember setting out our Thanksgiving decor right after Halloween and all of the fun and crazy times we have together.

What are you thankful for?  What are your family traditions?  Where do you spend Thanksgiving?

I hope that you enjoy this holiday as much as I do and take the time to slow down and look around.  Make a mental note of the people, the dishes served, the games played and the stories told.  Be thankful for it all.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.