A Thanksgiving Memory

The holidays are here. It’s a magical time when beautifully dressed families and friends gather around a gourmet feast to count their blessings in a stunningly decorated house.

Any one else out there laugh at those stupid commercials? Excuse me? How is it possible to shop (ugh, I’m a disgrace to my gender and hate shopping), wrap gifts, plan parties, clean, cook, decorate…all while looking soap opera glamorous?

I hosted Thanksgiving a few years ago. Everything was going perfect—right up until I pulled the turkey out of the refrigerator and realized I’d bought a 12 pound turkey. To feed over 20 people, most of who were my in laws.

Okay, fine, I admit it, I need glasses. But I think it should be a law that the weight of the bird is written in Large Black Marker. But I digress.

Back to dinner. I’ve made a lot of Thanksgiving dinners and I know two things: 1) 12 lbs of Turkey will not feed 20 plus people and 2) My lovely in laws will NEVER let me forget it.

My husband and three sons eventually stopped laughing at me and rushed out like men on a hunt to save the day. One of them snagged a turkey somewhere around the 17th grocery store he went to. We all rejoiced,

It was not a commercial perfect holiday. My in laws were a couple hours late and my sister forcibly removed the electric knife from my hand—but the truth is Thanksgiving that year was fun and memorable. The blessings from that day came from the blunders. My husband and sons immediately pitched in so that we all worked together as a family to pull off the day. Well okay, they laughed first, then helped. But the memories have built into a family story that will linger for years and years.

Would we have gotten that from a commercial perfect holiday? No. Perfection is boring. But mom screwing up the turkey and panicking? That’s some funny stuff of family legends.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope you all create some womemoriesmemoires this holiday season!