Thanksgiving

Our family had kind of an unconventional Thanksgiving weekend this year.  We didn't go anywhere, and no one came to visit us, so it was just our little family, and we were free to do as we pleased, without regard to tradition or convention.  The kids didn't have school on Wednesday, so we spent the morning at our favorite inflatable playground, after which we ate lunch out, and then I dragged the boys along with me to Michael's (that's a craft store, just in case you didn't know) to dream and be inspired (I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who left feeling inspired).

We spent Thursday at a water park, which was so much fun--we splashed and played the day away.  It was a little odd; each time someone wished me a "happy Thanksgiving," I felt a little jolt, and thought, "yup, it is, isn't it?"  I kept forgetting.  We ended up at Old Country Buffet for supper, because it was the first place we came to that was open at 6:15 on Thanksgiving--it was the first time for Logo and Bubby, and Code-man was too young to remember having been there, so it was new for all of them, and they were just so tickled with the concept.  "You mean, we can have whatever we want, as much as we want?" was a frequent refrain.  The slushies and soft serve ice cream were particular favorites.

For the rest of the weekend, we played in the snow, we painted a room, we watched movies, we played games, we got our Christmas tree, Code-man had a friend spend the night.  This was seriously the best Thanksgiving I've had in a long time, maybe even ever, because I was able to just enjoy the things I am most thankful for: my family, our home, the fact that we have all that we need and more.

Just as an aside: this was definitely a "to the cloud" moment.  There was something wrong with someone in each of the pictures we took--I decided this was the best one, despite Bubby's face being hidden, but it sure would have been nice to be able to just click a few times and have everyone looking their best in one shot...

We had our turkey meal on Friday--I don't think Hubby was ready to go as far as to forgo that particular tradition, although I would have been just as happy without.  It wasn't particularly difficult to get the meal on the table, which was a relief--when we're sharing it with extended family it always seems like such a cacophony of chaos ensues in the minutes before we sit down to the Thanksgiving meal.  It wasn't a particularly extravagant meal--we did have a few extras on the table, but nothing out of the ordinary.  Even so, as we sat down to pray before our feast began, it stuck me as entirely ridiculous that on Thanksgiving we show how thankful we are for all that we have by gobbling up as much of it as we possibly can.  It seems a more appropriate response would be to show our thankfulness by sharing our abundance with others who have less to be thankful for.

I think my friend Liz (oh my goodness, I used someone's real name in my blog!  What has gotten in to me?) has the right idea.  This year, for the third time, her family spent the morning of Thanksgiving participating in the Walk to End Hunger at MOA.  Liz strives "to be an example of compassion and generosity even if it’s only an example for [her] children," and I think in this, she has succeeded.

No, I don't think we should do away with Thanksgiving--there is something to be said for enjoying a special meal in fellowship with family or friends, but I do think that if we are truly thankful for the extravagant generosity of our Creator, our natural response will be to give thanks for what we have been given, and to mirror God's generosity with our own, extending our bounty to others beyond our circle.

**Special thanks to Sawblock for assisting with this post in his capacity as human thesaurus