Thanksgiving

My husband isn’t generally big on holidays, but he’s obsessed with Thanksgiving.  He asked me for weeks what we were doing for Thanksgiving, and I told him I didn’t know, I hadn’t thought about it.

So one night while we were out running errands, he says we’re going to his dads house to figure out Thanksgiving.

During the conversation, I said we could order in, go,  we could do it our house, there house, wherever, I didn’t care.

So of course they decided I would cook lol

I am a decent cook, but not a fan of cooking, and definitely not a fan of having to go grocery shopping.

The week of Thanksgiving, my husband ended up with the flu and was super sick, but it finally released it’s hold on him the 2 days before.

Then Thanksgiving morning, I woke up with a fever and all the aches.

My youngest son said that if I didn’t feel like doing dinner, I shouldn’t.

I told him that these guys don’t have wives or mothers anymore, and Thanksgiving was about being with family.

It’s coming up on 2  years since my mother in law passed away, and naturally her passing has left it’s mark.

She didn’t cook (at least not since I’ve been around) but we usually did something on the holidays anway.

So Thursday, even though I didn’t feel good, I got up and put the turkeys in the oven and then slept while they cooked.

We packed up the turkeys and went to my father in laws house to fix the rest of it.

My father in law, brother in law, husband, my daughter and her boyfriend, and two of my sons all came.

I cooked a huge dinner, barely fit it all on the table and everyone sat down to eat.

At that point, even though I didn’t feel good, I was so glad I had done it.

My husband is 6 foot 9 inches tall, and his brother and dad aren’t much shorter.  They’re big guys.

Watching these guys  eat three overfilled plates of food and try to push through a fourth, was literally the highlight of my whole week.

You would have thought my father in law was at a 5 start restaurant the way he kept complimenting the food, and making joyful noises while eating lol

Having them all together eating, making jokes, telling stories, and just being generally happy warmed my whole heart.

Last year was their first year without my mother in law, and their first Thanksgiving without her, and it was pretty sad.

Having them all together just appreciating each other and their food just filled my heart completely.

At one point, I was doing something in the kitchen, and my husband leaned over and kissed me and said ”Thank you for all of this”.

He’s not usually very vocal about his appreciation, so that was a nice surprise as well.

So even though I was volunteered to make dinner, and even though I didn’t feel good, I was so happy  I had done it.

It was a beautiful, peaceful, fun filled day that I think everyone needed.