Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I really like Christmas and Easter as well, and frankly, any time my family gets together.  But on Thanksgiving, I get to go to my church’s Thanksgiving Day Sale.  It is an auction of donated goods from the congregation that are auctioned off at exorbitant prices ($200 for a pecan pie this year!) with all proceeds going to various needs in the community, church, and abroad.  It is fun.  I connect with others, relax, bid up a storm, and walk out of there to go to my mom’s for a feast.  And this year was good, but somehow it was cloaked with stress for me.  It should have been an easier year – we no longer have to travel 1-1/2 hours, we can walk there!  But it was also the first year to have TWO children.  It was also the first time the sale was offering a kids area – which sounds great (and WAS great).  The catch was a parent had to be with the child to purchase their goods and make their crafts.  I wanted Madison to be able to do that, but I wanted to go bid and relax.  Jeremy was trying to get Ellie to take a nap, so he was already in parent-mode elsewhere.  I just felt torn.  It was also the first year I was bringing hot dishes to Thanksgiving….there is a lot of timing precision involved in this.  So, as my things cooked in my house, I felt like I was making everyone late for the festivities at my mom’s house.  (It worked out fine: I was just stressing about it.)   And from there, every little thing just kinda made me worry/stress/frustrated/etc.  It was like a ball was wound tight inside of me.  Blech.  I am sure this was a fluke, and next year, Thanksgiving will be back to what I remember – Ellie will be at a different stage, I will have the “hot dish” thing down, and I will know things don’t always go as planned. 

There were good things…

• Ellie had her first Thanksgiving and ate it like a seasoned professional.  She also talked up a storm at the window, driving my brothers (who yearn for quiet) crazy.  I assumed you couldn’t quiet a baby, but we have been working on telling her “shhh” at home, and it actually does work! 
• Madison went off and played with her cousins all by herself.  It was as though I was down to one kid responsibility – beautiful.
• Some people managed to fit dessert in amidst all the outdoor activity.
• Jeremy and my brothers had a mini basketball tournament that lasted all afternoon… and made them all (I think) sore for at least a day!  (For the record, they dressed a little quirky because this was a “serious” match up… this is not their normal bbal style!)
• The weather was BEAUTIFUL!
• The women took the kids (except Ellie who was napping) to the track to run and play while we walked a little.  It was relaxing to just release some energy and move a little.
• There were still a lot of people left at Jeremy’s side’s Thanksgiving.  Sometimes we miss a lot of people because we get there late afternoon.
• Jeremy’s grandpa had a health scare before we got there and had to be taken to the hospital.  He was doing better, and it wasn’t as serious as they thought.
• We didn’t have to fight the hours of traffic to go back home this weekend!