Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving

The usual Thanksgiving drill at our house is lots of grand/kidlets, and the aromas of turkey and dressing and rolls and pies wafting throughout the house before anyone ever gets up. Well, almost anyone. I seem pretty much always to be up, at least according to BB1: "Poke stays up late and gets up early."

But today, for the first time, we had none of that.

C and hers are at the in-laws' this year. I always wanted my kids to marry orphans, but I had not imagined that orphans would be in such short supply, and so far that hasn't happened. We have one more chance, and meanwhile we share. This year it is "their turn."

S and Gi are hard at work. The perils of life as a police officer married to an ER nurse.

D and the little girls have gone off to Kansas. Enough said.

M made out like a bandit. He took off after school yesterday to visit the aunt of one of his classmates (Is that what they call them?) somewhere in the vicinity of West Point; today he and a bunch of other strays are invited for Thanksgiving at Major Minor's; and Saturday there will be one more dinner, at the home of the chem prof.

So my Man and I had Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant for the first time in our 34 Thanksgivings together. When we go to Ryan's, which isn't often, I generally sample everything that looks remotely interesting, but, today notwithstanding, Thanksgiving is for tradition, so I decided to stick to traditional Thanksgiving foods: turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and pecan pies, and the like. It was an interesting change, but to be perfectly honest, our turkey and our pies are waaaaay better than Ryan's, and I don't think we will be repeating this experience. Now we are back at home, with no leftover turkey and no mid-afternoon pies ;-( No, we definitely will not do the restaurant dinner again.

My Man sat down to watch the football game and is now happily asleep on the couch, accompanied by Miracle on 34th Street, while I am looking out the window, thankful for the perfectly drizzly, perfectly grey, perfectly chilly Thanksgiving Day.

This year things are a bit different, a bit less comfortable than they have always been, but we always have something to be thankful for. The Scripture is replete with examples of gratitude and admonitions to be grateful, even when things don't look quite as we think they should, all summed up in I Thessalonians 5:18~"in everything give thanks..."

Now there's something to think about. And it's humbling to realize that there are worse things than being home alone for Thanksgiving.

8 comments:

. said...

MEYER!!!

Marytoo said...

HAHAHAHAHHA!!! Oops ;-) Minor is funnier.

jlbo1981 said...

I did give thanks for friends like you. 34 years!! I had no idea!! Good for you, what a rarity these days.

Mary said...

Yes, sometimes we have to be creative during the holidays, because family situations change all the time. One year, Glenn's sister was in the Air Force (we were all young) and we went to San Antonio where she was in Basic Training and went to a Holiday Inn for Thanksgiving Dinner. I'll always remember it.

Last year, our older son was away on his own, and we couldn't bear to have dinner on Thanksgiving for just the three of us, because we missed Sam. So, we drove north to the air force base in Grand Forks and had Thanksgiving Dinner at the chow hall. On holidays, the chow hall is opened to families or retiree families like ours, where for a small fee, we can eat. It is beautifully decorated, all the food we three could eat for $13, and the base commander served.

These unusualy holidays are always remembered as being special and out of the ordinary. Blessings!

sterling river said...

I never knew you wished your kids would marry orphans! What a great idea - and no wonder I've had so many in-law problems. That would've simplified everything!

sterling river said...

Did you go on vacation?

Marytoo said...

Us?! A vacation?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! No.

sterling river said...

Seems like you been gone! How 'bout a bloggy-woggy?