Fortunately we made it through a Thanksgiving without having to go round a table and share the things for which we are most thankful. Public displays of cloying sweetness and weepy gratitude usually ruin the day for me, so I consider myself rather lucky this year.
But don’t think I am ungrateful. Hardly. Currently I am grateful for the following:
1. M’s grandmother Lisl, who is our only remaining grandparent and who lives in Portland. We are so grateful for her that we piled into the van at 1.30 yesterday, drove for almost three hours, had dinner with her, spent the night in a hotel we are unlikely to be welcomed in ever again (cute guy in room 812: I am super sorry and you were right, 6.05 is too early for anybody), piled back into the van of misery at 8 am, and drove for three hours to come home. All in a steady stream of pissing rain.
2. I am grateful that even though Bennett tricked Fiona into eating a jalapeño at breakfast, the entire ugly incident was over in six minutes.
3. I am also grateful that even though Bennett covered his crocs in duct tape (because they just weren’t waterproof enough before), that he didn’t feel the need to test them by filling them with pee in the car.
4. I am grateful that nobody wet a hotel bed. That’s a biggie.
5. I am grateful that I don’t feel worse after sleeping on the world’s shittiest pull-out couch. (Each time M would roll into the center of the bed, the mattress would snap into a V-formation, sending me flying into him.)
6. I am grateful that I forgot nothing when packing. Usually, somebody has to go without underwear, and that somebody is generally a child who could most benefit from a pair for extra protection.
7. I am grateful that this year I did not forget it was Black Friday and head to the mall for eyeliner, stockings, or a pillowcase. Awful.
8. And of course, rain and badly behaved children aside, I am glad to be home, preparing our own little day-after-Thanksgiving dinner, complete with my two year old sous chef. She is demanding, inconsistent, takes many, many tea breaks, but is good fun overall.
Happy Thanksgiving!
