Giving thanks...

It has been a rather intense week, what with all the preparing for the holiday, attempting to party on the holiday, amidst doing copious college assignments, attending a difficult birth, catching of colds, throwing of parties, marathon Christmas shopping, giving of baptism talks designed to inspire, educate and simultaneously entertain an 8 year old boy, and receiving news of my granny's passing, all in the matter of a few days...and oh, there was more, but lucky for you, that's all I'm remembering or willing to talk about ;)

I used to hate Thanksgiving, I could not see the point. So we gorge ourselves. Great. Because North Americans really need another day to work on those obesity stats.  And all the hooplah about family would always get me down because I would get homesick. It was not a holiday I grew up with, I did not identify.

And then we moved here.

The first Sunday after our arrival, a very kind woman came and knelt beside me as I stared stonily ahead in church (the move, the stark November climate which along with my pregnancy hormones had plunged me into a pretty profound depression, were not  combining to allow me to make the best of first impressions, so indeed this woman was, in addition to being very kind, very brave.) She asked me if we would like to join her family and some friends for Thanksgiving. To my surprise (and probably her dismay), I agreed with alacrity. Other then my trauma at feeling compelled to create a pie crust from scratch, (because to this day I will swear that I heard a pause of horror right after I blithely mentioned to the much nicer then Martha Stewart, but just as good a cook, hostess, that I would just buy some pies. She denies it vehemently, but I know what I know.)

ANYWAY other then that, we had a delightful time. When I saw this picture on their fridge,

I knew I was among kindred spirits, and we have descended upon their house invited or not, for pretty much every major holiday since then (and many of the days in between too).

Since  then I have looked forward to Thanksgiving with great anticipation. So when I say, "preparing for the holiday", it means gathering up a few things to take to my friends' pristine home, and then plonking down for a 12 hour marathon of gourmet feasting and great company.Now I totally get it. Thanksgiving is fabulous. Thank you Richardsons, you're the meaning to our life..you're the inspiraaaaaaaaaaaation. Seriously, you are awesome. But then you knew that, didn't you Nathan?

This year, I was particularly excited for the parking and eating. I was tired and looking forward to a break day. As afore mentioned, I had spent most of the previous day attending a birth. The mom was a real trooper but it was no picnic for her, and I had been rather emotionally invested, and consequently drained after (although it is always an honour to be invited to a birth, so thank you so much to this family who allowed me to be there) and very thankfully, both mom and baby are healthy and beautiful.

My general state of exhaustion was not helped by the fact that I was also developing a rip roaring cold (which happily held off until I was done breathing in the birthing mothers' face). I awoke on Thanksgiving morn', to the realization that I had not one but two assignments due on Thanksgiving Day. We had technically only receieved these assignments 2 days earlier and the previous day had been taken up with breathing and focusing and such.  Awesome. Aaron thinks the Prof. must be a Communist for not giving an extension.  Note: I did not say so. (The Prof could conceivably be reading this). But you know, if he had, then I would have been muddling away a day later all alone, so...thanks communist prof..I guess. I am most genuinely thankful for my education.

ANYWAY...so along with a pie and a ham, a few drinks, some folding chairs and a brewing cold, I arrived for the feasting with trusty laptop in tow. Happy day! Having been working unsuccessfully at trying to figure out what I was supposed to do for the assignment and emailing my prof back and forth all morning, I was also somewhat disgruntled. Just a tad.

Fortunately for me, my friends (unwisely) did not abandon me, and I was blessed particularly with the very generous and unflagging help of an awesome English teacher, who helped me to figure out and produce something which was up until this point, a total mystery to me. (She even made a trip home to get examples for me to look at) and all I gave her was a lousy cold. Thank you Julie!!!

I also had the input of the (unsuspecting) Vice President of a multi-billion dollar software company, who is always helpful to talk to when you are a writing a Business paper. Y'know?  Now he will know better when a woman with a laptop at the Thanksgiving table, and a desperate gleam in her eye says, "So....what do you do?" His wife and daughter weighed in on semantics and grammar too. It was a bonding time, a collaborative effort so to speak. Much like I imagine it went with the Pilgrims and Indians. If the Indians had a laptop. Thank you nice brother in law Craig, and smart wife Michelle, and lovely daughter Cassandra.

So it could have been way worse, although that is hard to imagine because despite all the help, I pretty much worked on those verdompt assignments all day and all night. Well when I wasn't playing Apples to Apples. Or visiting the maternity ward, or eating.

And that brings me to yet another disappointment-. Somehow, my Excessive Eating dial had been turned to, "Minimal" and I was not able to eat in nearly the gluttonous manner I had intended on. One plate of teaspoon sized helpings-ok yes, there were many of these tiny portions to sample, but still-no seconds??! One piece of pie??! When we had 12? That is just a travesty. Happily, the pie I did eat

was a good way to go. So thanks for the pie Julie, and I guess a grudging shout out to my body, for making it impossible to gain that 5lbs I was grimly resigned to.

The next day there was the matter of recovering, (my cold was full steam ahead at this point), a little shopping from home (not the internet, I did it the good old fashioned way-I sent Aaron) thank you sweet Aaron, some cleaning  thanks again for all your help,babe,and the preparing of the three ring circus show  baptism talk. After which, I felt my head would surely explode and I would float away in exhausted molecules into space. But! There is no rest for the wicked. I had arranged to have a little gathering at my home that night. And the show must go on. Thanks to Jen Lynn, I had adopted the orphaned post Thanksgiving Pride and Prejudice watching marathon.  This was an excuse for an English tea party-esque spread if I ever saw one, and I can never resist setting up an English tea party-esque spread, no matter how revolting I may feel.

I had also stolen another friends' idea of having a "favourite things" exchange. No, I am not referring to my girl Oprah, rather Carolyn. Her idea was that everyone bring a few of their favourite things (again, inspired by Julie Andrews NOT Oprah),  with a budget of $10 or under and exchange them. It was really fun and a good way to get to know people better. Thank you Carolyn for the great idea!

I also (which the help of friends, but of course) managed to make some progress on a few of the many crafts I had so optimistically taken on one manic Super Saturday ,over the course of the next 7 hours. It was, against all cold ridden, exhaustion-related odds, a jolly good time. Thank you Jane Austen, thank you A&E, thank you Kroger for the tiny English tartlets, and for carrying South African rooibos tea, thank you Kashi who makes a bunch of my favourite things, thank you again, Julie for having such a cool favourite thing . Thank you Julie, Tiffany and Amy who never tire of helping out a craft-tard, and letting me mooch their craft supplies, and who are so much fun that 7 hours flies by like 3. Thanks to Cyndi who made me feel better by having even more homework then I did, and for being endlessly entertaining, and to Michelle and Cassandra who were actually trying to watch the show and did not throw a blunt object at the incessant talkers.

And thanks a lot Jen Lynn, for moving and ditching me with your responsibilties...sheesh.

The next day, I summoned enough strength to complete almost all of my shopping (including some desperately needed clothing) in one fell swoop. Target, thy name be blessed. The checkout was a solemn and painful moment, but it is done. And if we live off Ramen noodles in the dark, for the next month, so be it. It is done. Thank you, Target.

And then of course there was the news of my granny's death, which of course really took the wind out of my sails, but afforded me the chance to actually stop for a moment (or a day) and just be.  (or I would have been going to bookclub's and teaching at church, and hosting dinner after church, and all manner of turning a bad cold into pneumonia, related activities.  So, I guess...thanks Granny? For dying and letting me have a break? Before I got  myself really incapacitated before my husband went out of town for a week? Hmmm.... ummm somehow that does not sound quite kosher but I guess you could spin it that way. (Of course, I would really rather she was still around to send me a card while I languished with pneumonia, but if you're going to try and be Pollyanna-ish about it...) Regardless, Thank you Granny for everything. You rock.

While I was cloistered, Julie taught my class without me even asking her to, Amy called from church between Primary duties, with some very kind and comforting words, and Julie brought us a super yummy all comfort food dinner (as you can tell, for poor unfortunate Julie, I was somewhat of a friend in need this weekend, but she soooo came through). Thank you yet again, Amy and Julie.

And of course thanks to above for my beautiful kids, who were healthy enough to have a wonderful Thanksgiving, for my selfless, kind, funny wonderful husband who lives to make me happy, and for all the things that I know to be true which make me even more thankful still.

Kids table

Caught mid-mouthful, Aaron once again demonstrates his flair for the flattering photo.

Julie and Cyndi look good anyway.

Football is for Philistines, post dinner soccer game. (Gracie dominated)

Gabe gets twisted

Harvest moon-can you tell I was shivering?

Comments

[Julie]

Awww, you're welcome!! If it wasn't for you and Amy, I would have dropped out of school in December. So your constant emotional support more than makes up for one weekend of homework and comfort food. :-)

[Carolyn]

Thanks for the shout out. I am just thankful you survived. Weeks like the one you had can sure make a person thankful for down time. I hope you get some soon. Love ya!!!

[Amy]

Does this really work? Let me know. Beautiful letter, woops, blog. I got all choked up. Thanks for coming that first thanksgiving. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

[Jen]

Hey, I never said you had to make tea and crumpits! Or have a gift exchange! But, I do like that idea and I think I'll steal it for next year.

Hope you have a good relaxing week.