Thanksgiving Day, or A Merry Feast

K gave me that sweet little message board for my birthday. I just love it.

The quote is from William Shakespeare. I just love that too.

A merry feast. That's what we had today. 

Dinner was at 4pm, a bit later than we usually have it. K and B and little man had to go over the river and through the woods to see B's mom and then to his dad's house to visit with them. We moved dinner until later in the afternoon and it worked out just fine.

The rest of us nibbled all afternoon on wonderful charcuterie and cheese boards. Everyone sliced and cut and unwrapped and peeled while we assembled the boards. Hands snuck in and out, sniping pieces of meat and cheese. Wine was poured and our merry feast started.

Many hands make light work, said John Heywood in a book of proverbs from the 1500s. Our feast today was the epitome of that proverb. Sissy and one of the Man's sissies brought so much food and helped with the preparation of our meal. My nieces and J helped make food and were runners, carting food up and down from the basement all afternoon. It was truly a team effort and made the day so much more enjoyable, all of us working together and laughing and eating.

And doing shots.

That's a family tradition for us now. It started a few years ago. I was having a particularly stressful holiday and decided to do a shot of Fireball before everyone arrived. It worked so well I did it again the next holiday. And the next. And the next. 

At some point, J and K saw me down the shot and quizzed me about it. I explained my little tradition and they wanted in on it. The Man just gave us a look.

That year.

The next year he was in on it too. Ha.

Sissy came in early one holiday and she saw us do the shot. She wanted in on it. And this year we added the Man's sissy and her husband. 

Our tribe is growing.

We set aside some potato and butternut squash for little man to try. You know, for his first Thanksgiving.

Can you tell how much he didn't like it?

Time for the annual family photo for Christmas.

I'll post the final version once I've mailed my cards out. Until then, let's just say we had to take several breaks to stop the tears.

Oy vey. It was rough.

I loved every minute. I love all of them.
__________

Moments I want to remember:

Walking into the kitchen and smelling the turkey roasting in the oven. My house smelled just like Nan's did when I was young. I sat down for a moment, closed my eyes, inhaled, and let the memories of past Thanksgivings play in my mind. I was ten years old and impatient to sit down for dinner. Nan used to let us sneak olives off the table and I think we ate half of them before we even sat down. I would sneak pieces of turkey as my dad carved the meat. And little bits of stuffing. Sitting at the kids table with Nan. She never sat anywhere else but with us. I loved that. We got her all to ourselves that day.

At one point in the evening, I got a bit overwhelmed by all the activity in the house and needed a moment of quiet. My sissy in law had changed the garbage so I volunteered to take it out to the garage and throw it in the trash bin. As I was walking back toward the house, the wind picked up and I could hear it blowing through the trees. The branches were swaying, the wind was whistling, and the stars were beautiful. I sat on the picnic table and just listened, smelling woodsmoke from a neighbor wafting through the air. I let the cold air blow over me, bracing myself a few times when it gusted a bit. I looked at the stars and wondered how many other generations before me looked at the sky on a Thanksgiving evening and listened to the wind blow. A very peaceful, needed moment on a day full of love and laughter and family.