I really meant to put out a post before Thanksgiving, but it has been a few years since I hosted it, and I forgot how much preparation it takes. I simply ran out of time. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays- it doesn’t require any gift-buying or wrapping, no decorating, and its only one event, not a three-week long series of functions. When I don’t host Thanksgiving at my house, it doesn’t even require much preparation. I just cook whatever dish the hostess tells me to bring, show up on time, and be nice to my relatives.
Having it at my house is a whole different scenario. This year there were 13 people at my house for Thanksgiving. In the grand scheme of things, that isn’t all that many people. Some friends of mine were having 40. Forty people! The troublesome part about my gathering is that they were all STAYING. My sister lives in Houston and my kids are extremely close to hers. They were all excited to see each other, and since they had come so far, were staying 4 days. My parents live an hour and a half from me, and 7 hours from my sister. They wanted to stay too.
We have a small camp at the river which functioned as a bunkhouse, but it required cleaning, top to bottom. There are 6 beds, all of which needed clean sheets, and it needed to be stocked with food for the 7 people who stayed there for 3 days. Also my house had to be cleaned and one of the boys’ bedrooms prepped for guests, a turkey bought and prepared, as well as appetizers, breakfasts, drinks, desserts, and anything else someone else hadn’t volunteered (or been asked) to do. To summarize, bushels of food, mountains of laundry, and days worth of cleaning.
I love my family, I really do, but three days worth of guests is exhausting. I’m not a natural hostess like my mother is. I forget that I don’t snack, but other people do and I need to break out snacks on a regular basis. I forget to open wine when I don’t want any, and I sort of need space and peace and quiet. There were 4 teenagers here and peace and quiet was in short supply. When everyone left, I went to the camp (ostensibly to bring all of the leftover perishable items back to the house) and sat on the pier and enjoyed a little silence. Before my brother and his wife left- he asked if I would mind terribly if they hosted Thanksgiving next year. I couldn’t decide whether to laugh out loud or hug them. No- I wouldn’t mind at all.
I didn’t miss the significance of the holiday. My family gets along pretty well, and a good time was had by all. It was good to see my children and their cousins having a Nerf war in my yard. It was fun to spend time with my parents, and I’m grateful to still have them around. My husband’s parents are gone already and he misses them especially at Thanksgiving. I am fortunate to be able to house my entire family for a visit. I’m fortunate that so many could come to spend time with us. We are fortunate to have our health and are especially appreciative of that this year. I hope your Thanksgiving was equally full of blessings-
She’s Fire’d
We cooked our turkey in the crock pot this year and used a few store bought ingredients rather than making them from scratch. Dinner was better than ever and I didn’t feel one bit guilty about using that bottle of store bought gravy. Celebrating with relatives is great, but it sounds like you were setting high standards for yourself. This year I took a more relaxed approach and it turned out to be the best Thanksgiving ever! I wonder if you could dial back the prep work next year?
I probably was setting high standards for myself. I will plan a more low key Thanksgiving next time around, but a part of it was unavoidable. Guests were there for lunch and dinner Wednesday, breakfast and lunch Thursday, and three meals on Friday. Even serving easy stuff like sandwiches and a pot of chili was tiring by the third day. I might pay someone to clean the camp next time. That would be money well spent.
I’m waiting for the comment from your brother once he’s read your post🤣
One of the things I enjoy about having downsized to a two bedroom apartment is that we only have one spare bedroom. It means we can have guests, but not many at the same time. The ones we like are those that are happy to open the cupboards/fridge and find their own snacks or wine, although we’re still working on that one.
I like the idea of Thanksgiving – I don’t think it’s something that many nations have. I think the idea of remembering what we are grateful for and also that it isn’t particular to any religion are great.
I doubt you’ll see a comment as the only member of my family who knows about the blog is my husband!
I do have an annual Christmas Eve party after church services. We have soup and sandwiches, eggnog or another beverage. We have a sappy old Christmas movie on, and wish each other a merry Christmas and then everyone GOES HOME. Some years a crowd shows up and some year it’s only a few, but it’s a good time and I look forward to it all year.