Thankgiving Blessings

Thanksgiving this year seemed different, yet a blessing. My family unit is a little smaller this year. Where we once had 11 people at our table, we only had 5. Aren’t families supposed to grow over time? One natural decrease was my grandparents’ choosing not to travel anymore. For many years, they traveled down to Florida for Thanksgiving. It doesn’t seem the same without them, as they are 89 and 94 yrs old. But I understand that as people age, they have to give up certain luxuries. They were missed.

The other decrease was my sister’s family. Because of her divorce, not only was her ex-husband not here, but her 2 kids spent Thanksgiving with their step-mom and baby half-sister. So strange that even though their dad is deployed, they would still choose to spend the holiday with his wife.  Mind you, this is my sister's year to have them on Thanksgiving.  I guess you get to a time when they can choose for themselves where they want to be on holidays.  Then I am also divorced, which leaves out my X (which is NO LOSS!). So, that just leaves my parents, my sister, me and Hannah.

It just seems strange to not have as much chaos and mess. The house is so much more quiet. We didn’t cook as much food, with less mouths to feed. Instead of doing the typical Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, we prepared each trimming on different nights during my visit to my parents' house. Then on Thanksgiving day, we made it simple, just having lasagna, salad and garlic bread. Mom is a vegetarian.  On other nights we had mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole. I guess you can say, we celebrated Thanksgiving all week, so we had more time to eat all that food.

It’s strange to watch life change from year to year. Some things change for the better, and some for the worst. Who knows what next year holds. I dread the possibility of not being with Hannah Thanksgiving week, which is very possible, since we do every other year for holidays.

Other than food, we went to Uncle Donald’s Farm with my high school friends and their kids. We went to the Tree Farm to cut down my mom’s tree. My dad took Hannah to the playground, while I looked at Black Friday ads, which I made a killing on my day of shopping. My mom took Hannah to watch “Tangled” at the theater while I shopped. I started my shopping day at 2 am.  That's a first for me!  We visited with more high school friends on Sat. We visit First Baptist Eustis on Sunday, as I enjoy doing every year.

Another change this year is that I am in Grad School, which meant I had class on Mon. So, I didn’t get to come of Friday, as usual. So, I had to miss the annual parade and festival in Umatilla the Sat before Thanksgiving. This change is bittersweet, but it is only for a season. Life is full of surprises! I’m simply trying to make the best of it. Life is good!!! I am blessed….