Thanksgiving Thoughts

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what Thanksgiving means to me. We still have a week to go, but as I mentioned on Monday, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays – honestly, I’d usually say it’s my absolute number one – and I don’t like the way that the Chrismukkah bonanza begins the day after Halloween and Thanksgiving gets glossed over so quickly. It’s a day to savor food and family, even if we all end up having a little too much of both, and to consider all the good things we have in our lives, a particularly potent act after events like those in Paris last week.

 

 

 

Growing up, I loved Thanksgiving because it was the holiday that my family hosted at our home. On Hanukkah and other holidays we would bundle into the car and drive to my cousins’ or grandparents’ homes, but on Thanksgiving everyone came to us in Connecticut. Some years there would already be a light snow on the ground, others it was still autumnal and breezy, but the constant was a sort of panoramic perfection as my dad brought the turkey to the table and we all dug in. This is the table I imagined serving the first dessert I ever made to (and that’s exactly what happened last year with my Pumpkin Poufflé!)

 

 

 

I was lucky to have this, year in and year out, until I went to Oxford, where of course Thanksgiving was not an occurrence. My first year I tried to host a “Friendsgiving” but it just confused my friends, who considered turkey and cranberry sauce to be Christmas foods and who were already into the Christmas spirit. It was usually just ten days before the end of term and everyone was celebrating “Oxmas” and so I ended up Skyping with my family that day in subsequent years. I was happy when I returned home for law school to once again have the tradition to partake in. Watching the parade on television after running a hometown Turkey Trot, cooking and eating dishes from cornbread to turkey to pie, and enjoying the spirit of the day.

 

 

 

This year, for the first time, we won’t be having our Thanksgiving at my family’s table. Instead, we’ll be going to the community where both sets of my grandparents live, about a two hours’ drive away. I was disappointed when I initially heard the plan, wanting to cling to the way it was in my childhood. But one of the things I am most thankful for this year is that, at the age of twenty-four, I have all four of my grandparents still here with me and doing well. It makes sense, as they get older, for us to go to them. And I’ll be just as happy to share my new Pumpkin Apple Spice Loaf with the table, just as fulfilled by being able to make and share food for family and friends.

 

 

 

 

What else am I thankful for this year? The rest of my family and all of my friends, for starters. My ability to run and be outside moving in the fresh air. The opportunity to volunteer with the Junior League and to help others in the community. The way that I’ve grown to love cooking and sharing food with others after so long struggling with such things. This blog, and the chance I have to write about the things I love and to be part of a whole other amazing community. And so much more.

 

 

 

[Tweet “What I’m Thankful For This Thanksgiving #GivingThanks #Gratitude #WhatAreYouThankfulFor”]

 

 

 

What are you thankful for this year?

 

How does your family celebrate Thanksgiving?

 

Any ideas on how best to honor the holiday before diving into December?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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