Tis the Gift to Be Simple

Four really beautiful reasons to be thankful today.  And everyday.


We decided long before going to China that Thanksgiving would be really simple this year.  Having only been back home for about 4 days, we agreed to not give our household anymore unnecessary stress.  So, I did what I never dreamed I would do and had Rudy's Bar B Q cook my turkey (smoke it to be exact, and some beef brisket, chopped beef, creamed corn and pinto beans...are you salivating?  It is as good as you think!).  The original plan was to actually have them cook everything, but Grace is doing extremely well in the daytime, so with Cory home, I was excited about adding some homemade mashed potatoes and green beans, along with a pumpkin pie and homemade cranberry sauce.  I love Thanksgiving.  I have had the privilege of cooking the full meal several times, on my own and with both of my moms (mine and Cory's) and I believe once with both of them.  I've cooked it in a dorm for students more than once, for family, for friends, sometimes with both present.  I even cooked it one year for visiting PhD's from Japan who watched the Food Network to prepare for the meal (no pressure!).  It would feel weird I thought to keep it so simple.

I thought about my grandmothers a lot today...they both passed away this year within months of each other.  They both had reputations in their prime for being able to feed the masses and do it well with great ease and grace...relatives, neighbors, co-workers, friends, family and often the hungry off the street.  Their homes, back in the day, were the place to be on holidays.  I hope I carry that spark they had.  I was thinking today, that when they were my age, they never would have dreamed of having someone else cook the main course of a holiday dinner, much less add some sides in too.  But I knew my grandmothers in their years long past my age, and I think they both would have applauded.  It was the "life is too short" and "don't miss these years with your babies" comments that floated through my mind today.  In their later years, they knew what was important.  They would have nodded knowingly that Grace needed to be held today a little more and that Will had strep throat and needed a Mom and Dad who could just "go with it."  Oh, they would have loved Grace and laughed their specific laughs at her antics.  Their wisdom of knowing just how "simple" and normal today was but how important and fleeting it is too would have been the sweetest gift to see.  Grace has her Great-Grandma Penn's raspy voice and her Great Grandma Jane's wit.  They would have loved her.

So, we started our Thanksgiving Day at the Urgent Care with Will for what was stated as the "worst case of strep throat" the doctore had ever seen.  Funny how that would have thrown us a year or two ago or even 2 months ago.  Something about being home from China gives perspective.  Will is so cool, we barely knew he was sick.  A nice rash this morning and the comment that his "breath hurt" was the strep clue, despite no sore throat or high fever.  So, we watched the parade and tried to rest, still recovering from our trip.  Grace decided not to nap today, despite our best efforts and despite napping well for days.  No big deal, Dad was home to be the human rocker/jungle gym while I worked on some food for the holiday.  Claire helped with pumpkin pie yesterday (pretty much all herself, due to her wishes to "do it herself"...I have no idea where she gets that!) and Carter wanted to learn to peel and slice potatoes for his favorite mashed potatoes today.  So, we did.  When we finally sat down to dinner, I believe that 3 out of 4 children were crying and Cory uncorked a bottle of wine and said, "Here we go!  Four children!"  I assure you that we were both laughing and at peace...again, just glad to be with our crew and in our home, no matter what the emotional state of the table!  Smiles came quickly as we started to eat and everyone was thankful.  Will, who doesn't really have an appetite, asked if he could just go around the table and give Thanksgiving hugs.  And eat popsicles.  So so sweet.  He did the rounds several times, like a postman delivering Christmas packages, wrapped up in 40 pounds of total heartfelt love.  Carter and Claire were expounding on their favorite dishes and Grace was the most jubilant I have seen her with that meal.  Feet kicking, literally breathless with anticipation over the next new bite I would put in her mouth.  Mashed potatoes, green beans, meat, cranberry sauce...she could not get enough.  It broke my heart and I loved it at the same time!  She ate more than any other of my children and did not stop.  If I paused to get a bite, she yelled out to keep it coming!  At one point, she put a little too much of a yeast roll in her mouth.  We could see it stuck up there and wondered what would happen next.  She paused and blew it out her left nostril, completely in tack.  We cheered.  It was an awesome display of dinnertime skill and totally Thanksgiving table worthy.  Then there was the pumpkin pie.  Grace ate a piece and a half.  I have been teaching her signing over the past week or two, here and there, just to see what she thought.  I had about given up, thinking it was just too much or that she would be like my other babies who were completely amused at my gestures but really had no intention of really ever communicating that way.  Not Grace. We saw our first of many "MORE" hand signs for you guessed it; pumpkin pie.  Over and over again.  Whipped cream and all.

So, it was a simple day.  Not much accomplished that you could check off on paper.  We were missing our families who are far away.  And grateful for friends who asked us over.  But, we were meant to be here at our house.  Home.  Oh, and the few dishes I did cook this year...  it was voted that the green beans and mashed potatoes were the best ever.  Funny how keeping it simple and focusing on just a few things, stress free, with helpful little hands to assist, made it stand above the years past.  Those dishes were on a different level than before.  We really enjoyed them.

Here's to keeping it simple....