Family traditions are important to us, and we have a few, from carving the same pumpkin face year after year at Halloween, to dressing up for Christmas dinner and taking the annual family photo. Traditions bond families, and mark the passage of time in ways that our memories seem to favor.
On November 28th, we celebrate Thanksgiving. While I tend to be thankful every day, I suppose it is nice to have a single day devoted to celebrating abundance with family and friends. But, for the most part, I am ambivalent about this holiday. We don’t like forced family gatherings and prefer to visit with our relatives away from holidays. There is also the fact that we don’t like turkey and stuffing, or, most of the starchy side dishes. Basically, we’d just like to skip the holiday and move on to Christmas! I know that sounds a bit strange, but what we really enjoy is spending time together, just our little family, being our odd little selves in whatever way we choose.
We have celebrated Thanksgiving in numerous ways over the years, from big family gatherings at the homes of relatives, to just the five of us cooking Chinese food together. We did attempt to make turkey once, but that was pretty much a disaster, soooo… We all agree that we are ready for a new experience.
This year we are taking a total departure from tradition and are having a ‘destination Thanksgiving.’ The destination will be preceded by a road trip up the East Coast with stops in Philadelphia, PA (family wedding) and Newport, RI (where Christmas lives). The kids will fly to Boston where we will meet them and continue on to Nantucket for five days of cold, cold, cold. I mean family time and new traditions. I’m thinking pj’s, Christmas movies and steak and lobster all day long in our cozy cottage!!
Whatever your Thanksgiving tradition, we wish you and your family joyful memories that will last a lifetime. Just be careful with that deep fried turkey! It’s the thought that counts right?
Blessed and feeling…
