A family Thanksgiving

Halloween is over.
Barack Obama is the 44th President.
What now?

Well - I need to start making lists and plans for Thanksgiving festivities at our house. Right now we're looking at 8-10 people for dinner with another half dozen or more coming after family dinners for dessert and cocktails. And that number could easily go up before the day occurs.

Thanksgiving has never been an exciting holiday for me. My mom wasn't ever a big cook, so dinners were traditional with yummy turkey and stuffing, canned cranberries and green beans, Just usual fare. And since we didn't have any relatives nearby, we never had big family celebrations. Mostly it was just a day off of work or school. After my brothers got married and then started having kids, it was a little more interesting, because it was a chance to see them.

When I first moved to Portland and could no longer go back to Kansas easily for the holidays it became an even more boring holiday. When I had a part time job at the video store, which was open on holidays, I'd always volunteer to work so that people with family celebrations didn't have to. (And then I never had to work New Years Eve!) But for the first several years it was just another day.

After Noland and I got married that has all changed. We began 4 years ago, opening our home up to any of our friends who wanted a place to go. We cook a turkey and a bunch of other goodies and all our friend bring a dish. We have lots of drinks and food.. oh, and I guess there's football on for those that are into that sort of thing... and it's something that I've had others tell me they really look forward to.

Most of our other gatherings aren't "dinners" so to speak, so it's kinda fun to sit down at the table and eat together. It gives me a chance to break out my fancy china that I hauled around the country with me in boxes for almost a decade before ever using. Now I LOVE Thanksgiving.

My family is of course my family, and I love them. But days like this are what reinforce that my friends are my family. And I love them.