Giving Thanks

Oh, how I love Thanksgiving. I'll even venture to say that I like it more than Christmas. Then again, the presents. I'll have to think more about that statement. I had a conversation with a woman at school the other day about Thanksgiving. "It's a nice holiday," she said. "There's no pressure." And I have to agree. There are no presents involved, or expectations. There's just good food and good people.


Growing up, my family and I would gather around the TV to watch the Macy's Day Parade on Thanksgiving morning. My family loved parades (and I think still does). It's kind of like our love of Broadway plays. (yes, I know, I still need to write about this in a post...) As we watched the parade, my mom would be in the kitchen getting things ready for the day. The dinner would either be at our house or my aunt's, with grandma, grandpa, cousins, and great aunts. We always loved when it was at our house, because it meant that we could stay in our pajamas until the last possible minute before the guests arrived. At dinnertime, kids would be situated at the kids' table, and the grown-ups around the big table. As kids we would race through our dinners so we could play. The grown-ups would linger over their dinners, talking and laughing. Then they would linger over coffee and dessert, talking and laughing. Eventually, I learned to do the same.


As a kid, I thought that Thanksgivings would be the same, every year, with the same people, until I was really old. I didn't take into account in my naivete, that things change, people move, life happens. To copy a bit from Karen, here are some of my memorable Thanksgivings:

A couple years while in high school, I celebrated Thanksgiving in North Carolina with Andy and Denise and my mom and aunt. I think it was at that time that I realized that people did things differently on holidays. (And that putting slabs of butter all over the turkey wasn't such a bad idea.)

One year in college, we drove to New York to have Thanksgiving dinner at Rick's. In a small apartment in Jersey City, we had our Thanksgiving dinner. In fact, Rick got it ready while we were at the Macy's Day Parade. That was exciting, being at the parade that I had only seen on TV!

And two years in a row, Stein and I were lucky to have Thanksgiving dinner in Hawaii. The first year we had the traditional turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes (and some poi for kicks). But the second year, we had some of the best fresh fish at Mama's Fish House. I consider that Thanksgiving one of my favorites.

This year will be more traditional at Matt and Anne's. I started my morning in honor of that. I stayed in my pajamas, and turned on the Macy's Day Parade. Later today, Stein and I will make the vegetables we're bringing, just like my mom did when I was a kid. And then we'll sit around at the grown-ups table at Matt and Anne's eating and drinking, talking and laughing. Then we'll linger over coffee and dessert, and talk and laugh.

You know, that's what it's all about. Celebrating what we all are thankful for. The food, the friends, the family. How fortunate.