Thanksgiving

Clearly, my goal of writing more in 2023 failed significantly. As many Americans travel to celebrate Thanksgiving, our family once again will celebrate locally here in Gainesville. This year presented many challenges and with challenging years, it becomes harder to focus on giving thanks. Of course, when we do take the time to focus, the difficulties fade. I am incredibly grateful to have a healthy daughter. Although, with starting school, we’ve experienced the stereotypical petri dish of diseases (enough where the pediatrician’s office knows us by sight), our visits are always something that can be resolved quickly....

Another year, another quiet Thanksgiving in Gainesville. Later on this week, we’ll be celebrating my daughter’s 4th birthday. Still coming to terms with how quickly the time passes. Choosing to stay local and not visit family is a choice made for one reason: my daughter loves birthday celebrations at her home. She’s been planning what she wants for months now. When it comes down to it, choosing to make her birthday special is an easy choice....

Last Thanksgiving, thanks to Covid, Thanksgiving was quieter than normal. This year, travel is expected to be close to pre-pandemic levels (air travel alone is expected to be 91% of what it was pre-pandemic). This said, we’re staying in Gainesville for the holiday and having a quiet celebration. Some of my family will joining my parents in Fort Lauderdale (which is looking like a decent, although smaller, turn out). We opted to stay in Gainesville primarily for AnneMarie....

Normally, I write these posts the night before Thanksgiving… after all, Thanksgiving remains my absolute favorite holiday. A time to gather with family (remember…. friends are the family you choose), express gratitude, and eat great food. The gather part this year didn’t happen thanks to the pandemic. Losing the bakery and not seeing family/friends since February made it hard to focus on what we have to be thankful for… not as hard as when Ricardo was murdered, but honestly it’s been a shit year....

For the last 16 years, I’ve enjoyed Thanksgiving at my parent’s house in beautiful South Florida. Surrounded by family, the festive meal places family on the porch of the house, seated around an incredibly long table, with more food than one should eat in a single sitting. For a few of those years, when I lived in South Florida, it was a quick drive from my place to the dinner table. Most of the years, it involves a drive down from Gainesville. Some years included a trek down from Michigan (snow and all). ...

Each year, I make a Thanksgiving pilgrimage to my parent’s home in South Florida. Since I can remember, Thanksgiving has been the Holiday for my family — and when I say family, I mean the entire family. Cousins, friends, aunts, everything. My family. I’ve been very lucky in life and have a lot to be grateful for; one of which is the continuing of this amazing tradition. Some years, the trip seems too short. It rarely feels too long. This year, Yeni and I were able to take a few days off from the bakery and head down to South Florida for a few extra days. I start thinking about my thanksgiving message around October… mostly just a mental outline of what I want to say. Pointless really. Every year when I sit to write the message, my mental outlines are thrown away. ...

Typing out the Thanksgiving Message

I’ve been writing these Thanksgiving messages every year for more than 10 years. I’ve written them when I was thin and in shape, fat and out of shape, married, single, living with Forrest, mourning his loss, and well– a lot of things have changed in the last 10+ years. I’ve written about the history of Thanksgiving, about losing friends, losing family, gaining family, gaining friends, and more. ...

We know I love me some Thanksgiving. These turkeys surrounded the shop today… making me think it’s time to get ready for the fourth Thursday of November. =) =) [][1]Gobble Gobble...

For me, each year revolves around the fourth Thursday in November. Thanksgiving remains my New Year’s Eve, my Christmas, my Hallmark moment. From the four corners of the earth, members of my family gather at my parent’s home in Fort Lauderdale for the festive meal– but it’s more than just a plate full of turkey and a side of dressing. For my family, Thanksgiving provides us the perfect opportunity for a homecoming. In my childhood, the majority of us lived in just one state– generally at most a few hundred miles from each other. In today’s world, we find ourselves spread over the many continents. Each November, we gather in Fort Lauderdale with no plans whatsoever. There’s no agenda, no itinerary, no master plan. In fact, only a Thursday dinner remains certain. ...