30 Things in 30 Days (#23: Holiday)

Day 23: What is Your Favorite Holiday and Why?

Oh, yay! Another easy prompt!

Without a doubt, my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I love that it's an American holiday, not based on religion, that this whole country celebrates and has traditions for. I LOVE the fall season - the chill in the air, the aromas, the tastes, the colors. I love baking for Thanksgiving and getting together with family to enjoy each other and a yummy meal (after meal after meal)!

Growing up, we had Thanksgiving at my Grandma's house. All the cousins would play outside or we'd play "school" or "BS" in my mom's old room. We got to spend time with aunts and uncles, we'd eat amazing food, watch the Cowboys play, and then play some more until it was time to take our left-overs home late in the night. Somewhere along the way, our annual "tree pictures" started. The first memory I have of "tree pictures" started when we were at Grandma's, and our out-of-town cousins came over. We all headed outside at one point, had the littlest ones climb up in the branches of the trees, and everyone kind of gathered around for a photo shoot. Since then, during halftime, we head outside to take that year's picture. It's fun to look back at these pictures and see who was there that year, and it's also fun to remember what was going on at that time in our lives or even be able to date the photo by how old we were or who was born then or not yet.

2004

2009

2012

2013

When preparation for Thanksgiving got too taxing for Grandma, we moved it to my mom's house every year. Since then, there's been a wide variety of people who have joined us - even my dad used to come by the house with his younger kids as we got older and stopped spending every other Thanksgiving with him and Sally (who started driving out to a farther city for the holiday). After Sam and I got engaged, we started splitting the holiday with both sides of our family - going to my mom's for lunch and his parents' house for dinner. Yes, we ate a LOT! :) I have to say, it's the only part of Thanksgiving that I don't like now. I would much rather stay in one place with everyone together than to have to rush or plan for two meals....especially with two kids. Sam and I talk about how to make this easier each year - merge the families? spend every other year with one "side?" We're never sure how to remedy this feeling because we want to be with everyone!

Thanksgiving stands out to me, too, because it plays a special role in the history of my relationship with Sam: the year we started dating (the day before Thanksgiving); the year Sam came in just for the day, came by my mom's for a slice of Hershey bar pie, and then left to drive back to Austin because he had to work the next day; the year I went to Houston right before one of the two Thanksgivings that Sam couldn't come home (because he had to study for exams in law school) and I baked for him so he'd have his own little Thanksgiving away from home; the year we broke up (the day before Thanksgiving); the year Mara and Caden spent the night before Thanksgiving at our house, which was also the year Sam and I took pie baking classes and competed to see who made the best pies (it was our newlywed year); the year we told our families we were pregnant with Banner; and both of my kids' first Thanksgivings.

2009

2011 - Banner's first Thanksgiving

2013 - Quinn's first Thanksgiving

And, of course, you can't forget the meaning of such a wonderful holiday: to be thankful and to express your gratitude. I try to do this daily, but for everyone around you to be full of thanks and appreciation is such a blessing. When I was a school counselor, I implemented a "gratitude chain" that we used to decorate the hallway before Thanksgiving. Students and teachers were invited to write a student's name to recognize on the morning announcements. On the back of the slip of paper with the student's name, there was a reason that teacher or student was grateful for him/her. Then, after they were thanked over the announcements, the links were added to our hallway chain. Teachers would even comment on how the climate of the building became much more pleasant - because people were looking for reasons to be grateful, kids were more polite, and they were all looking for ways to be more helpful to each other. The chain served as a visual reminder to everyone that we are all grateful for each other. I think Thanksgiving does that for everyone - gives us a reminder to be appreciative of each other, of what we have, of who we are.

*Past posts in this series can be found here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20,Day 21, Day 22