A Simple Thanksgiving

November Know Thyself Prompt: “Why I am grateful”

Growing up, Thanksgiving consisted of two large meals over the course of two days. One day we would wake up early and have a Thanksgiving lunch at my maternal grandmother’s house and the next my mom would host a large dinner for my dad’s side of the family. Attendance at both of these meals would be around twenty to thirty people. I loved those times and I treasure the memories.

My maternal grandmother stopped hosting her dinner years ago due to advancing age. She was and still is, a feisty lady who wanted to do everything herself. Offers were made to turn the meal into a potluck but she declined. We still took her food from the other dinner each year.

My mom hosted Thanksgiving until last year when the pandemic made it unsafe for a large group of people to gather. This year, life happened and for various reasons, the family couldn’t travel to be together.

At first, I was sad. I missed my parents and siblings and their families. I missed seeing my grandparents and extended family. I then reminded myself that I will see them in a month at Christmas and I needed to focus on the positive.

I was not alone for Thanksgiving

Having met my husband in my 30’s, I know what it feels like to be alone on holidays when I couldn’t travel to be with family.

I remember what it was like to run an errand on a holiday because it was just another day and see multiple cars parked outside homes and know the families were inside celebrating.

I felt empty.

This year, I celebrated the holiday with my husband and two dogs.

We didn’t do anything super exciting, we watched movies and put together a quick Thanksgiving dinner. He did the grilling of the turkey breasts and I did the sides.

After dinner, we cuddled our fur babies on the couch and watched the first episode of the new season of Dexter.

I wasn’t sad at all and I’m grateful for that.

I want to give a shoutout to Jan Sebastian, I don’t know her in real-life per se but I consider her a Medium writer friend and I’m grateful for her and what she brings to the platform. Jan is overcoming the effects of a stroke through writing on this platform and she is insightful and funny. I highly recommend following her and reading some of her work.