My First Thanksgiving - Sorta

Every November for forty years, my husband and I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner. Sometimes there are 15 guests. Sometimes there have been 40. Usually, the count falls somewhere in the middle. We also have out-of-towners staying with us during the holiday and many, many, many old friends just dropping by. All this is by way of saying that our home is a wonderfully chaotic place during Thanksgiving. But, this year…

Our daughter and son-in-law will be hosting in their beautiful new home. They will have the out-of-towners staying with them. We will be there as much as possible, playing with grandkids, visiting with family and pitching in with cooking and serving. A few smaller events will still take place in our home. But, for the most part, our house will be quiet, calm, clean.

I can’t decide whether or not this is a good thing. Change is always difficult for me and this is a big change. My kids didn’t just wrest the holiday from my turkey-stained hands. They asked if they could take over Thanksgiving and I agreed. A little more peacefulness sounds nice – I think. It’s very difficult to realize I won’t be the family hostess any more. That does free me up for more visiting and less pot scrubbing. It also means I won’t have the grandchildren around 24/7. There are always pros and cons. I’ll have to keep score to figure out which side wins.