Thinking about the years of Thanksgiving

This year many people were posting each day one thing that they were thankful for. I think this was done for the whole month of November, or maybe up to Thanksgiving day.  I think it is  a great concept but as usual it took me awhile to figure out what was going on.....maybe next year.  I saw a lot of posts on Facebook, they was good reminders of all the things we have to be thankful for. I think consciously thinking of our blessings and verbalizing them does a lot for our mental health. Reading these posts made me think about my blessings and it also made me reflect on the Thanksgiving holiday and all the past years of celebrating.

As a young child Thanksgiving was a highlight of the year. We would go to my mom's parents house and stay a few days with all the family. As a kid it was a great time, we got to be with our cousins for a couple days straight, we ate lots of food, played games, such great memories.  Sometimes my mom's father's family got together with his brothers family, then it was really crazy!  Tons of people!  Some years after spending a few days with my moms family we would drive to "the country" and spend an afternoon with my dads family. As a child I loved Thanksgiving.

Then at some point things changed.  I'm not sure what year it was but at some point the Assembly decided that Thanksgiving Day needed to be spent together as a group rather than with family. To add insult to injury they didn't even serve traditional food, we ate chicken instead of turkey.  Those were sad times.

Then I left the Assembly and Thanksgiving started improving.

2003 -  I spent Thanksgiving with a dear British friend.  The two of us cooked many of the traditional dishes and sat at the table, eating ourselves into a food coma.  I think we later rolled ourselves out of the door and went to a movie.

2004 - Peter and I were dating but not spending holidays together yet!  I went down to Richmond and spent Thanksgiving with my brother, his wife and my baby nephew.

2005 - We had Thanksgiving here with my brother.  I fixed a bunch of food, my brother and Peter just stared at the table in dismay, wondering what army was coming to dinner?

2006 - Peter and I went to New York to spend Thanksgiving with his family. We spent Thanksgiving day in the traditional way of feasting!  The next day we went into the city and went to dinner and then to a Broadway show, it was a play starring Bill Nighy and Julianne Moore. Wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

2007 - Back to New York.  This was a great time also but with a few complications.  I was pregnant, very sick and trying to hide my dashes to the bathroom. I thought for sure that his family had figured it out, they probably thought I was just boring. I believe they still think I am quiet. Go ahead and laugh all you people who really know me!  We went into the city, went to dinner (which I didn't keep down) and went to see Stomp. Another great holiday, just would have been better if I hadn't been trying to hide my vomiting.  Kind of felt like a bulimic trying to hide my addiction.

2008 - This was a bittersweet year. We had a precious little baby boy that we were so thankful for. But we wouldn't be going to New York for Thanksgiving as we had just been to New York a few weeks prior for his aunt's funeral. We were so happy to have our sweet boy here to celebrate with, but sad that his aunt was gone. We spent this Thanksgiving at our neighbors house with other neighbors. Everyone brought food and we had a lovely meal!

2009 - This year we had Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. We had lots to be thankful for, especially the recent arrival of our baby girl.  It was a lovely Thanksgiving, especially celebrating with our new family of four!

2010 - We hosted at our house. My parents and brother were with us.  It was nice to have some family with us but it wasn't a joyful time because my nephew wasn't with us.

2011 - We hosted at our house, you can read about it here.   This was probably my best Thanksgiving ever!

'til next time...