Chadwick’s Thanksgiving Thoughts

I haven’t been so excited about a Thanksgiving in several years.  The usual plan, on years I haven’t been alone, consists of my roommates and me purchasing large bottles of wine, playing odd man out to see who will be the DD, and taking off to the first house on our compiled list of houses that are cooking dinner.   Every house’s spread was mostly the same with varying styles of the ole favorites, but all a bit dry here and burned there.  My personal goal was to get a taste of stuffing at every house, and decide who’s the best, and make note for the next year.  Although the number of houses where strays gather has gone down year by year, the concentration of good friends has gone up, while the quality of food has steadily gotten better.

This year will be the first year that the house I live in will be hosting Thanksgiving for those of us who have become a family.  With any luck a few stragglers, whose plans of travel have been foiled or who have no other plans, will also be joining us.  These random bunches are the best kind in my view.  It reminds me that these are not corporate cash-in days.  These holidays started out with a purpose, and although we may lose ourselves in the flashy pictures in the ads and the announcers pounding the prices that have never been lower, we can still find the joys that were first intended.  It forces us out of our normal everyday business, puts the brakes on for us, and puts what is truly important right in front of us and hopefully we recognize our luck.  Granted Uncle Jimmy’s loud snoring may be annoying, or your buddy may drop his 10^th glass of wine on you and your new couch, but you will still remember that snore and that spill for the rest of your life.  Unlike the TPS report that is late or spat that you had with your co-worker the other day.  Those distractions are wiped away for you.  The question is will you let the experience take you?  Will you let go of that you can’t control?

I know that for me, this is the first holiday in recent memory that I have looked forward to as opposed to dreading because of the inefficiencies in the routine it causes.  I will let myself look around and breathe in the moment, however uneventful, and be thankful that I was lucky enough to receive it.