Don't Shoot!

Most people who know me, know I don't much care for Thanksgiving. It's all about cooking (which I hate). It's messy. The china has to be washed by hand. And table cloths; I hate them. This year we have table cloths and leaf shaped place mats. And the noise, noise, noise! Screaming grandchildren that are so excited to see cousins that they haven't seen since...last weekend!

We spend hours cooking and preparing. Well, mostly it's all done by my oldest daughter because she is a control freak. Anyway, all the work and then we sit down and in less than half an hour it's over. OK, so maybe we laugh a lot, mostly at Harry to embarrass him in front of his girlfriend. We remember old times and family members that aren't with us anymore.

Then the battle over who's going to do the dishes starts. It takes almost as long to do the dishes as it did to cook the dinner. Although, again, there is a lot of laughing, mostly at Harry because

he's the youngest.

Finally it's time for dessert. This year most opted for ice cream. I know, weird, huh? Then people start gathering up kids to go home. Trying to find shoes, blankies, the dog's leash, and toys.The kids cry because they don't want to go. Those left gather around the table to play Apples To Apples, and there's more laughing.

We still haven't planned our strategy for Black Friday, but that's OK because it's only Wednesday and we will do this all again tomorrow, which is actually Thanksgiving. Yep we do it all twice. What started out as Thanksgiving on Wednesday night and leftovers on Thursday so we could go to the movies has turned into two complete meals. But we do get to go to the movies.

So, although I'm not a big fan of the dinner part of Thanksgiving, I am a huge fan of the family part. I am so grateful that all of my kids live close enough to come to Thanksgiving dinner and they like being together. So I put up with the cooking, the tablecloths, the screaming kids, the mess and the clean up.

But now, let's move on to Christmas!