Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving Frame of Mind

I will completely admit that I was in a very unholiday-like mood for Thanksgiving. I had all these ideas of home i hoped to spend Thanksgiving. The smell of roasting turkey would fill the house as my husband and I unpacked Christmas decorations. My mother-in-law would be completely amazed by my cooking skills and never stop raving about dinner. We would spend the evening snuggling on the couch, watching some old movie, and enjoying the Christmas lights we hung up.

But in reality I was still really sick. The idea of spending another day in bed did not please me, but I did not have the energy to do anything else. Rommel drove me by McDonald's for breakfast just so I would not have to think about cooking more than one meal for the day. I was so afraid of making everyone else sick that Rommel ended up doing most of the cooking with me annoying hovering over him, telling him what to do. I at least was able to set the table and put all the food out, but my mother-in-law was no where to be found. Eventually we ended up eating without her. Turns out she went to the movies with a friend and her only comment was "I didn't know you were going to cook." Maybe she did not notice the freaking turkey in the freezer for the the last week and she just forgot that I have cooking Thanksgiving dinner for us that last three years.

Rommel went to visit some friends while I took a nap and continued to remind myself how much this Thanksgiving was sucking. I really missed my family and our holiday traditions. I missed sitting around the living room reading while my dad watched football, my mom fussed over the meal, and my sister went through magazines.

Eventually Rommel came home and I called his cousin to find out if we could drop off our dessert because I did not want to stay and take a chance their kids would catch my cold. She convince me that they would risk getting sick and wanted us to stay for awhile. We agreed we would only stay for thirty minutes, but ended up leaving over two hours later. And I was extremely happy we did because it reminded me what the holidays are really about.

It is about being with the people you love and knowing those who are not with you are safe and happy. Even though I was not with my parents for Thanksgiving, I knew they were having a nice holiday in Illinois with my sister. Rommel's mother may not have been there for our holiday lunch, but we knew the effort we put into it and at least she enjoyed time with her friends. And most importantly, I am married to a wonderful man who takes excellent care of his wife when she is sick, even when she is in an awful mood.

No comments: