Thank You, Thank You

Again it happened; a whole week has slid by without a sneeze-thought about it. A whole week of normal, a whole week of the in's and and out's of everyday, a whole week of exactly what I can expect from a week. And then I woke up this morning to an entirely different, wonderful type of day.

Thanksgiving, for me, is the best type of beginning there is. it's the beginning of a string of tradition and love and celebration. It's the start of a season that is seasoned with excuses to put on pretty dresses and sip sparking drinks in the evening with friends. It is the beginning of months spent inside toasty homes, escaping cold nights, creating the warmest of memories. It is as if someone decided that we all need excuse after excuse to celebrate to get us through these bitter months; and what better reasons to celebrate than Thanksgiving, winter solstice, Hanukah, Christmas, New Years Eve, New Years Day, and everyones favorite Hallmark holiday- Valentine's Day, among others.

Thanksgiving though, is the real kick off. There are no presents, no clinking of glasses at the stroke of midnight, and certainly no effort to display your love through things bought from glowing store windows. Thanksgiving is about family, it is about love and celebration. Thanksgiving is about sweet potato topped with melted marshmallow and playing cards around the dining room table. Thanksgiving is about telling stories about when the kids were younger, it's about sharing what is happening in the hustle and bustle of life right now, and it's about baking apple pie to indulge in all the while. While Christmas is nostalgic, and New Year's Eve is magical, Thanksgiving is the celebration there solely to remind you of all the love you are surrounded by. The love that is put into the turkey and its trimmings, the love in the laughter that fills the room, and the love in your aunt elbowing you in the side so you can peek at her cards. It is the holiday that puts the whirlwind of these warm-winter months into perspective. It is the day that says "yes, yes this is all yours and you love it" and you whisper back "thank you, thank you" a hundred times because you know it will all be over too soon. And when this day does come to an end, when the parade is over and the table has been cleared, when children start to fuss about too full bellies and Christmas movies take over every channel, and when we all retreat back into our own glowing homes, it's the dinner table laughter still ringing in your ears that reminds you to mutter one more "thank you, thank you" before you drift back into the bustle of the holiday season.

Thanksgiving is the mother of all of the holidays. It's the one that reminds you how to sit and what fork to use, it's the one that reminds you how to hug and thank and appreciate. Thanksgiving is the holiday that reminds you it's not about what you have on the table, but who is sitting around it. It's the day that reminds you celebration is about just that: celebrating; no frills, no tinsel and countdowns, just celebration. So as we pack away the leftovers into the fridge and bundle up to shop and string lights on the house, remember to step back and mutter a "thank you, thank you" now and then for all the wonderful reasons we have to celebrate this time of year.



Thank You, Thank You ((or what's fueling the fire today))
- unexpected guests
- knowing all of the words in a movie
- pies in the oven
- buzzers
- uncles
- having no empty chairs