Happy Thanksgiving! The holidays are upon us. What will you be doing to make it easier on yourself? I have learned over the years that putting too much pressure on myself will guarantee a stressful holiday. Sure, we all want to get the cooking done but bringing in some prepared items such as the pies or side dishes will make for a more enjoyable experience. And some years you may have to bring in the whole dinner. Which is what I did last year. And I have to say it was the most magical Thanksgiving we ever had.
With our new granddaughter just two days old and still in the hospital on Thanksgiving, my husband and I woke up that morning with no idea how we would be spending the day. Would the baby come home? Maybe, but we weren't sure. And where would we all be? It turned that she did come home and we helped our daughter, her husband, and the baby leave the hospital. Fortunately we had picked up prepared food from a nearby restaurant the day before not knowing where or with whom we would be celebrating Thanksgiving. I put a turkey in the oven in the morning, hoping that someone, somewhere would be eating it. When we got the call at 3:00 pm to come help them leave, we drove to the hospital and left the dinner in the fridge. In the back of my mind, I kept on picturing all that food and wondering how our Thanksgiving dinner would work. Would we get a chance to eat it? I knew no one would be coming back to our house for dinner. Somehow the food would need to get to my daughter's house. Or maybe not. It was a mass of confusion. Fortunately our younger daughter (the saint!) drove to our house while we were loading up the baby and two exhausted parents and picked up all the food.
We all reconvened at my daughter's house with a brand new baby and lots of chaos and confusion. The turkey and all the trimmings were sitting out on the kitchen counter. Into the oven it all went and dishes were set out for eating. Somehow we ate that dinner but I couldn't tell you how we pulled it together, what room we ate it in, or if we even all sat down together. It was a blur, but a happy one. The most important guest weighed about 8 pounds and was just getting to know her new home. We stared at her the whole time in a quiet state of wonder and amazement. A new member of our family had been born. And I believe we all shared a sense that a miracle had happened that Thanksgiving and that our holidays would never be the same.
This Thanksgiving she will have just turned one and will be joining us at our table in her highchair. She will taste turkey and mashed potatoes for the first time. I will always associate Thanksgiving with her birth. This year I will have the time to cook my normal Thanksgiving feast (with a little help from a nearby restaurant!) but I don't think the holiday will ever be as magical as the first year she graced us with her presence. But there will be magic. There always is. That's what the holidays are about.
Here's to a magical Thanksgiving from my house to yours!
