First off, may I just say, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you
and hope the Native American people of this country don’t hate the white people
too much today. I have been trying to
gently explain the actual history of Thanksgiving to Max and how sometimes the Pilgrims
weren’t very nice to the people already living here and how Columbus didn’t “discover”
anything. That one cannot discover a place that already has people living in it. That would be like me saying that I
discovered Starbucks or Loehmans. He smiled
and nodded but walked back to the kitchen to finish decorating cookies. I am on my mini-vacation so should stop trying
to have these little “teachable moments”.
It must suck sometimes to be a teacher’s kid.
My kids are just happy we are decorating Thanksgiving
cookies so the civics lesson will have to wait, I guess. They are having a blast decorating the
cookies. Ya know, traditional
Thanksgiving cookie shapes: Turkeys,
maple leaves and dolphins. Yep. Nothing says Thanksgiving quite like aquatic mammals. I actually made blue
icing for them. The boys have decided
the turkeys should be rainbow colored.
Because of that request, my hands are now rainbow colored as well. My thumbs are a lovely shade of pink. But I love cooking on Thanksgiving, so I’m
not complaining. I love making
everything from scratch. I love roasting
pumpkins for my pumpkin pie just so I can say that I roasted pumpkins for my
pumpkin pie. I am actually only making
two desserts this year which was a difficult decision to concede to but there
will be only nine people at my house this year and I know my boys will only be
eating the blue dolphin cookies. They
probably won’t even touch the pretty maple leaves, iced in a lovely shade of
light orange. Which is also the color of
my pinkie.
I do love Thanksgiving for the idea of taking a little time
out to be grateful for all of the stuff you have in your life. That and taking time out for binge eating an entire meal made with butter. I
try diligently to not invite vegans. Tofurkey
scares me and seriously, vegans just don’t appreciate the butter
component. Or the turkey component for that matter. It’s not like I eat like this
every day, seriously, I would gain all of the weight back and I threw away all
of my fat clothes so that cannot happen.
So, yes, grateful for butter and people who love butter. But grateful for lots of other stuff
too. Grateful my parents are here at my
house which means I didn’t have to fly home to Minneapolis on the busiest
travel weekend of the year. Super duper
grateful for that.
But instead of telling you all of the things I am grateful for,
I took a poll this year at school and asked my students what they were grateful
for. I got a lot of answers of family
and friends; video games and new phones. I
did get one kid who said he was grateful to have me as his English teacher but I
am guessing he was just sucking up to get a good grade in my class. Some kids said they were grateful for their
lawyers and some said they were grateful just to be out of school for the week. Two of my kids said they were grateful to
have a home after being homeless. That one made me think and be grateful that
the universe seemed to be looking out for them.
Homeless kids and along with the
few who mentioned their lawyers; seriously grateful. I knew a few were for parents and a few for
themselves. Those are the ones that make
my job hard to do without wanting to adopt them. Good kids.
Most of them.
With all of the heartfelt grateful lists, I did appreciate
the girls who said they were grateful for Hello Kitty, Elf cosmetics and Ryan
Gosling. I mean, who isn’t grateful for Ryan
Gosling? I liked how none of them
hesitated on what they were grateful for.
I liked how all them smiled when they said what they were grateful
for. Not a bad poll.
Before bed last night, I asked my boys what they were
grateful for. I was second on Dash’s
list, right under racecars. Max was
grateful for my love. Man, I love when
he says that. There is nothing more
validating than a sincere eight year old.
Okay, back to my turkey and my stuffing and my marshmallow ensconced
sweet potatoes and my caramelized brussel sprouts and of course, my blue
dolphin Thanksgiving cookies. I am
totally grateful my children have this wonderful sense of humor that
incorporates marine life into the festivities.
Well, let’s face it; I am just grateful for them. My life would be so boring without them. I am also grateful for my friends and my family,
the Gone with the Wind marathon on
AMC, and having a great home filled with love and warmth and Hello Kitty. And if it were filled with Ryan Gosling…
Oh, and by the way, I am grateful for the people who read
this blog. All of you. Happy Thanksgiving.
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