The First Thanksgiving

November 29, 2013 at 1:37 pm | Posted in Family Ties | Leave a comment
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This year I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time.  Last year at this time my parents were still living in the house that I grew up in and I was newly married.  What a difference a year can make.

Since moving into my new apartment, I’ve had mixed feelings about the decision I made.  While I still love the physical space and know it is a step up from my previous apartment, I have not fallen in love with the neighborhood, and like all apartments, there are some imperfections that I have to live with.  Still I know it is a pretty big step up for me, and hosting Thanksgiving reaffirms my decision to move here.  All in all, I have found a home, no matter how temporary it may be, that is a place I can welcome family.

Just before Thanksgiving, my husband and I finished furnishing our apartment.  One of the things I had been looking forward to in moving out was buying what I describe as adult furniture.  My old apartment was in an attic, and my dog had been a puppy at the time, so I was buying furniture for a unique space and items that I didn’t care if the dog destroyed, so when we moved, we took basically nothing with us.  My husband’s grandmother gave us her beautiful bedroom set, his sister her mattress, and his cousin the bed frame, but beyond that, we had to buy everything, and finding the right item proved to be a challenge.  I really wanted a deep red couch, and shopped for a long time to find one and had no luck.  But we still bought a beautiful couch and I am updating my vision for my home to fit this.

The last item we had to buy was a kitchen table.  There is something about the kitchen table that, to me, solidifies home. I can remember many a dinner at my parents’ kitchen table, each sitting in the same seats every day for twenty years.  Though the kitchen went through renovations, our seemingly assigned seats always remained the same.  I will be curious to see how my kitchen table plays a role in how my family evolves.  I’ll be interested to see what kinds of traditions and routines my family develops through all of the changes yet to come.

Hosting Thanksgiving was a lot of work.  It’s almost hard to step away from that to see just how well everything worked out, but I know it turned out really well with both sides of the family happy to help and happy to be together.

Thanksgiving is about togetherness, and I’m thankful I have a home where my families feel welcome.

An Important Year to Give Thanks

November 22, 2012 at 2:56 pm | Posted in Life and Living | 1 Comment
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Each year on Thanksgiving, we gather around the table, eating the best comfort food until our pants are bursting open.  Many of us reflect on what we are most thankful for.  In a year when I have written more thank you notes than I can count, I know I have a lot to be thankful for.

This has been one of the most important years of my life.  As I worked to plan a wedding and prepare to make this major transition in my life, I found that I needed the support of my friends and family more than ever.  I’ve always tried to do things on my own, sort out my issues on my own, and only when it got too tough did I ever break down and call out for help.  This year there were many five alarm fires called in, many people called on to save me from doom.  When I was at my worst, my most stressed out, when I was questioning everything I knew, when I was struggling to come to terms with the major decision I was making, I called out for help.  I called out for my best friend and my close friends to get me back on track, to validate my feelings and decisions, to keep me from losing sight of the end goal.

When I think of the support I received from my family and friends, I am blown away with the turnout.  Friends coming near and far to support me, family supporting all the decisions I made without too much pressure.  The camaraderie amongst my fellow brides and our common struggles.  All the people who showed me that they really cared.  At the end of the day, no thank you card is enough to explain how thankful I am to have such amazing people in my life.  I will always think of my wedding as a time when my true friends stood up to support me.

My wedding was not merely a celebration of marriage.  My wedding was a celebration of a life filled with people who care.  I am incredibly blessed to have so many amazing people in my life.  Thank you all for the incredible support you’ve given me this year, and all my life.  I will continue to pay it forward.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The Eve

November 20, 2012 at 7:33 am | Posted in Life and Living | Leave a comment
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There is one night each year that has somehow become the biggest night to party.  It’s not New Year’s; it’s not the 4th of July; it’s Thanksgiving Eve.  I don’t know how that happened, though I assume it probably has something to do with successful marketing by a coalition of businesses who saw an opportunity to get people to come out midweek with the added bonus that their hangover meal would be the biggest meal they have eaten all year.

So here we are on the eve of the big eve.  I’m getting asked by my friends what we are doing, I’m asking people what they are doing, I’m getting invites to events online.  This has become the norm.  It is expected that, like New Year’s, you will be doing something.  At least, I still expect to do something.  But I have a feeling, when I take a look around this year, that the crowd is going to continue to get younger as I get older.  After all, my earliest memories of Thanksgiving Eve celebrations date back to before I was legally allowed to drink (avid readers of this blog and close friends will recall the infamous Thanksgiving Eve I was brought home by the cops for being in a bar underage).

But I’m still in the stage where I am living life for myself.  As I get older and get more responsibilities, I’m sure this will change.  But I’ve said this before. My husband and I are still out for a good time.  Many newlyweds do start thinking about settling down, and sure it’s on my mind, but I still feel like I can squeeze in a few more good times before my priorities change.

So this year, I still don’t know what I’m doing.  I know what I won’t be doing. I won’t be clubbing the way I used to.  I will dress as appropriately as I can plan to for this night out.  My midsection will not be showing.  I will probably not go to a place that stamps my hand or puts a wristband on me.  I will go somewhere that is easy to get to without driving, making the responsible decision not to rely on one of my friends to be the a designated driver.  I will hopefully go somewhere that has dancing, so that drinking isn’t the main activity, but if not, I’ll go somewhere where I can enjoy a good conversation with my friends.  I will continue to party with my fellow good timers and I am sure that my hangover will likely be worse, even if I’m drinking less than I did when I was younger.  Because that’s what comes with age.  But I’m still going to party for this fake holiday.  It’s a great excuse to have a good time.

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