Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

It’s okay to get stuffed every once in a while

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The only thing I hate about a steak and lobster dinner is getting too full to eat any more. ~SS

There’s a lot to be said for the joy the holidays bring – or any celebration, for that matter.  Whether it be a birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas or a reunion – the ease of the conversation, the steady flow of wine, the melodic sound of laughter and the joy of being with a close-knit group of people is unequalled.  There is an undefined comfort level that allows us to become absorbed in the festivities that surround us. The fact that we can gorge ourselves and have an excuse to eat everything in sight with only a few fleeting moments of guilt is sublime.

The molecules change in the room when family and friends get together for a holiday celebration.  There is something intrinsically sacred about holidays and the memories that are created within those moments. Time has a way of strategically obliterating those precious seconds as it marches on at a frantic pace, but our memories have a way of stopping that clock, if only for a few moments.

Holidays are a portal.  They can freeze time and create a vortex that allows us to travel back and relive certain periods in our lives.  The memories wrap themselves around us like a blanket and soothe us with the warmth of the times that engaged us and truly breathed life into our lives.

Although many holidays have passed and are collecting dust in the books of my hallowed history, watching my brother “float” his dinner in gravy brings back a rush of nostalgia, and that, to me, is what the holidays are truly about.  Personal moments that, to any other person would mean nothing, but to me, define my holiday experience.

Our Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the time that I got to spend with my family is etched into my subconscious.  Glimpses of that night will replay themselves on the movie screen in my head and I will be front row, enjoying the show.  I can only hope the same fate happens upon my American family and friends, and that their Thanksgiving will leave them with the same lasting memories.

Embrace your family, enjoy the moments, and get stuffed with those memories.

Giving thanks

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My family is a collection of characters.  They are as unique as snowflakes, no one member is remotely the same.  They are all intelligent and articulate, but thoroughly amusing and fun to be around.  There is never a dull moment at the cottage when the relatives are in town!

With our hectic lifestyles and spanned location of homesteads, we don’t get to see each other as often as we used to when I was a kid.  That just makes holidays and get-togethers that much more special.  Since it is Thanksgiving weekend, we gathered once again to celebrate the holiday and enjoy each others company.  The stress of life and all of the troubles that we face during the day seem to melt away when the family reunites and nothing else matters except the people who embrace you when you walk over the threshold of the door to the family cottage.  The outside world ceases to exist and laughter and love wrap themselves around our shoulders like a warm security blanket.

The food is abundant, the conversation is easy and the feeling of love is overwhelming.  There is nothing more important than family.  We can be thankful for all of our possessions, our jobs, our wealth, but all of those things are replaceable.  Family is not.

Thanksgiving is a time to truly reflect on what is most important in our lives.   I am certainly thankful for my health, having a job that I love, co-workers that I admire and respect and possessions and a home that I truly appreciate.  But I am most thankful for the branches on my family tree that continue to envelop me and wrap themselves around me when I need them the most.

With each passing year, the trunk of our family tree grows stronger and roots itself more firmly in the soil of our existence.  That tree has weathered many storms but still manages to endure the bad times as well as flourish in the good times.  Its bark remains tough, but the core of our family tree still remains tender and nurturing.

As seasons come and go, our tree continues to thrive.   I am thankful for my ancestors who planted the seed, for my family that has passed that still hold roots in my tree, and for the family that continues to create branches on that ever-growing tree.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope you all take a moment to give thanks for what is truly important in your lives.