Hello there! Before I begin today's post I wanted to let you know about my new Facebook page (for this blog) and invite you to come along and "like" the page if you are so inclined. Aside from connecting to you in a more casual, spontaneous way than I can here - I'm having fun sharing tidbits of our days, asking you questions about your days, etc... I've also been having great fun sharing my photos enhanced with some of my favorite words. The above three are samples of that, though they are hard to read here as I've reduced their size to fit into one tidy row. Do head on over to Facebook for a better view if you have a minute, and select the "like" button if you'd like to stay connected over there. Thank you!
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It's never too late for new traditions. Too easily we can get hung up on our children not being so little anymore and fall into the "we've missed our chance" trap. It's not true! There's always opportunity for new traditions, for as long as we shall live.
I haven't cooked Thanksgiving dinner for many years now. My Aunt has been hosting and her home is perfect for it - an early 19th century cape with exposed wooden beams, a lovely fireplace, and a big country kitchen - year after year we gather in her home on Thanksgiving day. She and I do take turns hosting Christmas, we both love to do so.
But back to Thanksgiving. Not hosting naturally means no leftovers, and this is something certain family members of mine have missed greatly. Okay, all of us have missed the leftovers! So, sometimes we duplicate Thanksgiving Dinner a week later - not to miss out on the leftovers, the trimmings, the feast of great proprtions, in our own home. This duplicate meal has never been a regular thing, just something we've done when the mood strikes over the years.
This year it occured to me that we should make it a new annual tradition, better yet we should tie it in with decorating our Christmas tree! (We are 'get the tree as early as possible' kind of people.) And so this year, as we almost always do, the long weekend following Thanksgiving found us at our favorite tree farm choosing our annual tree.
Meanwhile, as the tree search ensued, I was writing our menu and planning our tree trimming feast in the back of my mind.
I won't say it all went perfectly, it didn't. Well, it's all fine... just going (yes, still going) reeeaaallly slowly.
We do have a toddler puppy in the house this year, after all. This is the year our most precious, most fragile ornaments will not be going on the tree. Just in case. For a little boy who loves sticks more than anything in the world, he thinks the tree itself is his Christmas gift! We're working on it, and he's learning quickly that the tree is to be admired not eaten, but I won't be taking any chances with my favorite ornaments.
So, we prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving/Tree Trimming meal, and we are slowly decorating our tree. It didn't happen all in one day as I had envisioned. (Oh, those pesky expectations and how they disappoint.)
So far the tree is in the stand and covered in twinkly lights. I think that will be about it for now, we'll add ornaments throughout the week as time (and Scout) allows. It's kind of nice this way, the slow process of it all. Isn't it always the young ones that teach us the best way of doing things?
Perhaps next year our new tradition will be a bit more refined, full meal and full tree trimming in one celebratory day... or maybe it will take its sweet time as it seems to be doing this year, and as I hope December will too. Slow, slow, slow. Please.
Today there is snow falling outside! It won't amount to more than a couple of inches, but how perfectly cozy for the first days of Christmas music, twinkly lights and yummy leftovers.
