The cooking is the easy part!

I have come to accept that T-rex will not get to be home for every any holiday. But I still have my way of doing things and I like them that way. For instance on Thanksgiving my side of the family all gets together. It is our one big holiday and it means a lot to me and my mom. Christmas is T-rex’s side of the family, although because of his working we have had to stay home a few years, we always make a trip up to see them shortly after.

Well this year T-rex is working Thanksgiving. This makes me sad because I love Thanksgiving. But this was not going to kill me, we were going to have thanksgiving at my house and T-rex can swing in for something to eat when/if he is not busy. Sounds easy enough right? I get my family, my kids get Grammy and Papa, I even invited T-rex side of the family over, but they are all going to Oklahoma.

Well then my sisters let everyone know that they are going to their husbands sides of the family for Thanksgiving, but we might be able to get together Saturday. I was a little upset that they pulled out of “my Thanksgiving” my parents were still going to be here so I thought it would be okay, we will make it work.

Then I had to do the right thing and tell my parents not to come. Not because they didn’t want to come, but because I know they wanted to be home to feed the people who don’t have family, who don’t have the money for a great dinner, and who can’t have a great holiday like I have been blessed with nearly every year.

So, it was going to be me and the kids, alone, on the best holiday of the year! I cried, I am not going to lie, I cried a lot. I wanted my sisters, my parents, my husband all here to eat great food! We always get caviar for thanksgiving (thankful we can get it once year, and thankful it is only once a year we are silly enough to spend that much money on fish eggs, and mind you this is like grocery store brand caviar!), I didn’t want to eat it alone, we always write a “thankful for list” and read it around the table, I didn’t want to read alone. I wanted MY holiday back!

T-rex said I should go see my mom and dad for Thanksgiving and help out around the church where they are doing the dinner, so I told them I would. But I felt so guilty about leaving T-rex here. I know he is going to be working, but whenever there is something big going on I am the one at home holding down the fort. It felt like I was abandoning him because I want my mommy. Yep I felt about 7 years old.

So to make up for it I made T-rex a whole Thanksgiving dinner Monday. Or that was the plan. But you see like all great plans T-rex got a call to go out with the S.O.G. to do something (kick bad guy butt). I get a few hours notice that he will be gone, and then NOTHING else, I never even know when he is going to be home.

I cried again. I called my mom and cried (she said she could not understand me, which is code for Stop whining at me and get your big girl pants on). I know he cannot control the bad guys, I know he is going to have to deal with call outs, and as such I am going to have to deal with call outs, but I mean really?! They had to do it when I was going to cook a great big meal for him? It was around 4 when I decided I was going to have Thanksgiving dinner at home like I planed even if he was gone.

So that is what I did. Well, okay, I had a lot of help form Rae, Lilly, and Dino. The girls worked on cleaning the house, making hand turkeys, and they even did a “thankful for” list with me. Dinner was going to be late, as I didn’t make anything all day, started late, and was doing all the cooking alone. But it was done around 7, just a few minutes after T-rex got home.

I had my big family meal, complete with caviar, and it was great! I didn’t burn anything, we have a lot of food, most of it my mom had gotten for us, and so in some ways it was like she was there too. There will be food here for T-rex when we are gone, and I can go help my parents help others, which is a great Thanksgiving blessing.



Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! What are you thankful for?