Thanks Given!

How I love these three goofballs! I can't imagine my life without them.

My wonderful children, Dylan (age 21), Sarah (age 29), and Jacob (age 27).

Sunday, November 25, 2018

I have been richly blessed in many ways throughout my life, many of those blessings unexpected and unearned, and none more so than in recent years. Yet always, always, the greatest blessing of all has been the privilege of mothering my three crazy kiddos. That means the best holidays have always been the ones that found all my children together under one roof again.

Clowning around with Mom right before Jacob heads back home.

This Thanksgiving was one of those occasions. Now that Jacob is living in Arizona again, just a three-hour drive away, I hope to see many more family-togetherness events throughout the years to come.

Adding Dad (Mark) and the family pooch Diego to the mix.

As usual, we weren't able to celebrate Thanksgiving with all the trimmings on the actual, official holiday date of Thursday, November 22nd. Jacob, Chris, and I were the only ones who had that day off. Everyone else's work schedules conflicted so badly that it was tough to find a slot with enough unscheduled time to squeeze in a holiday celebration with everyone present.

I love the roaster I bought last year! So much easier to roast a 24-pounder!

Sarah and Dylan always work Thanksgiving, thanks to the annual retail madness of Black Friday (and, naturally, they were scheduled for opposing hours so they weren't not-working at the same time during any part of the day). Mark is ordinarily off on Thursdays, but all the staff at Denny's were told "everyone works" on Thanksgiving. Jake usually works most holidays at the resort because, let's face it, that's when many people like to travel. In fact, on the day after Thanksgiving he received a well-earned promotion to Guest Services Supervisor!

So Jacob stayed in the Valley and enjoyed feasting on multiple meals with his aunts, uncles, and cousins, while I spent most of the day alone and so, I presume, did Chris. I think he actually spent his time chasing down Pokemon on Pokemon Go!

We feasted on green bean casserole, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey

and stuffing, and rolls, followed by pumpkin, apple, and chocolate cream pies.

We could have used our usual Sunday family dinner slot, except that Jacob needed to head back home earlier since he had to work Monday morning. Plus, Jake doesn't get off work until 3:00 on Sundays, so there wasn't enough overlapping free-time for a proper feast. 

Besides, I didn't think it was a good idea for Jacob to drive home on a stuffed belly (carb-crash might lead to a car-crash), especially with darkness now falling around 5:30, and more elk out near the highway. In the end, we had to settle for a late dinner on Saturday night, November 24th. Dylan was scheduled to work until 7:00, although, thankfully, he was able to arrange to get off an hour earlier.

Store-bought potato rolls and moist, yummy turkey.

Jacob drove up from Mesa on Saturday morning and got into town before 11:00. He stopped first at Walmart to visit his two siblings, Sarah and Dylan, on the job. After having lunch with Sarah at the McDonald's inside Walmart, he traveled on to my house. He helped me prepare the turkey for roasting and the green bean casserole for baking, as well as dicing ten pounds of potatoes for boiling and mashing after I'd scrubbed them.

Saturday, November 24, 2108 - Gathered around the table for our feast: 

Jake, Mark, Sarah, Mary, Chris, and Jacob. (Photo by Dylan)

Chris ended up with a chance to earn some extra money by working until 3:00 on Saturday, which he decided to do since Sarah was working anyway. After she got off work, she picked him up. By the time they arrived around 5:30, the turkey was done and it was time to begin cooking in earnest. Sarah prepped the rolls for heating and Mark made the stuffing while Jacob labored over the mashing of potatoes. 

Sarah also made the turkey gravy. It was only her second time to do so, and for the second time it was perfect! My gravy attempts are pretty much hit-and-miss, so the gravy crown goes to Sarah!

One more time from the opposite end of the table, with Dylan in the shot:

Chris, Jacob, Dylan, Jake, Mark, and Sarah.

Finally, the food was ready and everyone was here! We loaded our plates and gathered around the table, where we shared the things we were especially thankful for this year (which elicited both laughter and tears) before we blessed the food. The year has held many challenges for each of us, but our blessings have been most bounteous!

Then we dug in! Well, most of us did. Dylan had to go for a second plate right away, because he'd cleaned his first plate while we were all talking. So much for the art of delaying gratification!

Lots of Thanksgiving leftovers meant easy lunch and dinner on Sunday.

It was a great feast with great companionship. By meal's end, we were uncomfortably stuffed (why do we do that to ourselves?), so much so that no one (except Mark) had room for the pies I'd baked the previous night. The kids played one of their favorite games, Skip-Bo, and enjoyed the generally raucous fun of their typical get-togethers. It was after 10:00 when the party broke up, and only then because both Mark and Jake had to work at 6:00 the next morning.

For a late breakfast on Sunday, we had eggs, sausage, and potato pancakes made from leftover mashed potatoes. Dylan, Sarah, and Chris came over to spend time with Jacob before his departure. Since Jacob wasn't hungry for lunch by the time he left at 2:40, we all enjoyed a slice of pie or two before he was on his way. Later, we had leftover rolls with leftover turkey and mayonnaise as mini-sandwiches for lunch.

Dinner, of course, was a cinch: reheated leftovers! In the end, all that was left was most of a pumpkin pie, half a dozen rolls, and two zip-lock bags of turkey.

Our Thanksgiving togetherness ended with Jacob returning to Mesa.

It's always so hard to see these holidays end with everyone going their separate ways. Nonetheless, I'm very proud of my children and their adult accomplishments. An empty nest requires an adjustment, but it really is a blessing. As long as the baby birds occasionally fly back to visit the nest!

My solitary breakfast on the actual Thanksgiving holiday, Thursday: 

a ham-and-cheese omelet with a side of bacon.

I was thirty-five when I gave birth to my firstborn, Sarah. Before that, I'd pretty much accepted that I was never going to experience motherhood and would be alone the rest of my life. I adore my many wonderful nieces and nephews and always took a measure of joy from them, but it could never be quite the same as having your own children.

Because of that long wait, I often reflect on what my life would be like if Sarah, Jacob, and Dylan had never come into my world. Not that women or men who don't have children, whether by choice or chance, have empty or meaningless lives--far from it! For me, though, the mere fact that my children exist in this world is a source of fulfillment, and their presence in my life enriches my soul in ways I can't even express. I'm so grateful for them!

Thanksgiving Thursday wasn't a complete miss. Mark and I went to Denny's.

I accidentally said "medium-well" when I meant "medium-rare." Ugh.

We even splurged for dessert. Strawberry-citrus cheesecake...sigh.