I’ll be cooking a complete Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow from the turkey right down to the pecan pie. My husband will wander into the kitchen with words of cheer and then disappear to watch football again. My daughter will come in every seven minutes and ask for snacks. She’ll nibble one bite out of each offering, then discard it on a coffee table somewhere. The boys will take reluctant turns on computer games and Nintendo and I will holler at them, “CLOSE THE DOOR!” because they will be loud. One or all of them will offer to help me, but when I offer jobs, they will disappear again except for the one boy who loves green bean casserole who will take great pride in preparing it himself.
My back will be sore by the time I’m done mashing potatoes and stirring gravy and opening cans of black olives. My fingers will likely be burnt and possibly cut. I will have pondered the upcoming work accompanying the next holiday and grown weary just considering it.
We will all sit around the table and then I’ll get up three or seven times to retrieve something I’ve forgotten or didn’t realize we’d need, like ketchup. My daughter will eat two bites of turkey and thirteen black olives. The boys will each eat more rolls than I can count. Rain will fall. Wind will blow.
And I will be so thankful for this family God gave me, for the reliability of them, for the uniqueness of each kid and for the calmness of the man I married.
And then I will be thankful that it’s over. And I will read the newspaper, including all the ads and consider the wisdom or folly of arising before dark to shop with hoards of other sleep-deprived shoppers.
But first, I’ll put the pecan pie and the crustless pumpkin pie away so I can sleep before the Great Day of Cooking begins.
Actual Unretouched Photo 
Isn’t tradition something.
Hope your day is filled with little thanks and moments of appreciation.
Happy Thanksgiving Mel
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Happy Thanksgiving, Mel! I loved this line: “…My daughter will eat two bites of turkey and thirteen black olives.” Ha! :)Thanks for making me giggle–and not only today, but just about every time I visit you. Blessings to you and your family, Debra
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AND — after what seems like (and possibly was) DAYS in the kitchen preparing, it will all be over and you will rise and realize that you have been at the table precisely 26 minutes. Yep, that’s what I did!
But I am so thankful, myself — I am blessed. You’re one of the things (people, actually! 🙂 that I am thankful for! Thank you for giving your time to all of us!
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Happy Thanksgiving Mel! I’m so glad I found your blog. You always make me smile.
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Mel, I wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving All that food is definitely making me hungry..looks like you would need a holiday from the Holidays to recoup..here’s wishing you fab meals – all home cooked and yummy!
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I buy extra olives so I have enough left to top the deviled eggs.
Does your girl do the olive on each finger trick?
Hope you had a wonderful time. We have so much to be grateful for. Extra blessing – my Nat’l Guard son will make it home after all. He’ll be in late this afternoon and food always tastes better on the second day.
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Happy Thanksgiving! I hope the meal went well. I’m hoping to do Christmas dinner for my parents here this year because we have air conditioning and they don’t plus the boys can play with their Christmas toys for longer.
I’m very happy to have my dh and 2 gorgeous boys too.
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Hi Mel,
I want to thank you writting about Borat movie especially the bodily excretions. He is giving a bad infuence to children. It is so stupid. I have seen some of British comedies which are funny. But Borat is good for views who do not understand sense of humer and there are a lot of those. I dont think I can eat my food to see stupid movie. It is sickening.
Wishing you and family Merry christmas and Happy New Year.
Maria
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