COMING HOME: It's December, but I'm still thankful.

So I have this person, who's close to me, who's pretty intelligent, who calls Thanksgiving, "The worst, dumbest, holiday ever." I guess in some ways it can seem like that if you consider the fact that we shop, clean, cook and prepare for 3 days (6 if you count thawing the turkey) for a meal that's over in 1 hr. Not to mention that the meal contains 7 carb dishes to 1 protein dish covered with fat and followed by sugar. (This would probably be a good time to mention that the "worst, dumbest" opinion belongs to a paleo eater.) But the meal is only a decoy to get us to stop and plan and make the effort to gather and share with people we love. Considering how early Christmasing is thrust upon us, I like to think of Thanksgiving as a happy speed bump. Sure, I shop a bit and listen to a little Christmas music and start to rev up for Christmas magic making in November, but then my friend, Thanksgiving, reminds me that before I start the frenzy, I need to stop and give thanks and sit long around a table and play some board games and choose what kind of pie I would like to eat while I visit. And then I get back into the race and am pretty much full steam ahead as demonstrated by the fact that I forgot to blog about giving thanks.

I'm thankful that I am a mother and grandmother. Nothing is so hard. Nothing is so fun. Nothing makes me angrier. Nothing makes me laugh harder. Nothing breaks my heart or fills me with joy like being a mother. There's always a mommy thought swirling around my brain, and a part of me is in St. Louis, Portland, Augusta, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Omaha, Orem, Provo and Atlanta. Many of these excellent people have married even more excellent people and have born even more excellent people. It's a beautiful plan.

I'm thankful for a faithful and constant husband. He's been by my side for a long time. Although there's a little jostling in our equal yoke as we're both equally stubborn. It's a blessing to have a husband who loves steadily and provides generously and lives enthusiastically.

I'm thankful for the family I came from. The project that my parents embarked on when they got married was ambitious to say the least. To raise 10 children and live well through the challenges of life has been impressive. I am inspired by these good people.

And speaking of Thanksgiving dinner, maybe there's more to it than just tradition and calories. My turkey journey has been rocky, but in the years of taking it out of the freezer too late and not putting it in the oven early enough, I have developed humility. I have been forced to not walk my own know-it-all way. I have asked and watched and listened (eventually) and this year we had a pretty darn good turkey. Anita Stanley put out a reminder on facebook for me to start thawing the turkey. I decided not to leave anything up to chance and copied the Gills by cooking the turkey on Wed. and letting it sit in the juices overnight. I listened to Erica and made gravy out of juices and broth instead of bouillon. I used a cooking bag for baking. (I don't remember who taught me that) and just warmed the meat up in foil on Thanksgiving day.

The rolls teach us to be patient with growth. Given time we can rise to become more than we are, but we do our best growing in warm, sweet surroundings. When not given the time to develop, however, we can be hard and heavy.

Cranberries teach us to not give up. Maybe we don't like canned cranberry sauce. Let's try to make it from scratch. Or maybe cranberries are better in a jalapeno compote with cream cheese. Try cranberry fluff or bread, or punch, but don't quit cranberries.

A very important part of Thanksgiving is the people. If possible put different faces around the table, Otherwise how can you tell it's a holiday? It would just be dinner. I was thankful to have children and grandchildren and siblings and nieces around my table. I have my mom's silver that she put on layaway when she first got married. She told me to use it when her children came for dinner. This Thanksgiving was the first time I was able to use it, and I loved picturing my mother young, trying to make her home a special place.

When the dinner was over, Christmas was welcomed in. We happily revived the graham cracker gingerbread house tradition. Part of the tradition is trying to transport the precious houses without damage to structure or loss of candy home after the holiday. The next part of the tradition is listening to the children cry about damage to structure and loss of candy. And then we're thankful for our children's opportunity to learn to cope with loss.