What can I say at Thanksgiving this year that is new and unique? How about the fact that two of the biggest birds I’ve ever seen flew by my home office window yesterday? You guessed it, they were wild turkeys. Yes, we live in a more rural area now. In fact, last year while the dogs and I watched two wild turkeys strut along behind our townhouse (you can imagine what the dogs thought….lot of yelping through the window), my husband who was on a conference call later told me he saw a third one up in a tree wondering how it got there and not looking very elegant as it tried to get out.

On the turkey cooking front, we had to cook ours yesterday, two days in advance with a plan to reheat it on Thanksgiving when the family arrives. Why? There were no frozen turkeys at the store and buying a fresh one 4 days in advance we have learned is too far – google says cook within a day or two. Guess that’s my health angle for this post – not serving my family old fowl that will make them sick, and my technology angle – depending on the power of google to ask any question and get an answer. The downside is when everyone arrives, we won’t have that wonderful turkey cooking in the oven fragrance throughout the house. There’s an idea for a candle maker! But the upside is more room in the single oven to reheat the side dishes our daughters are bringing.

I’ve said to a few people that we’re ready for plenty of chaos as the six adults will be outnumbered by our four grandkids and three dogs including a very active 7-month-old puppy that is bigger than both our 3- and 14-year-old little dogs. But it will be wonderful, loving, family chaos. The best kind!

10 years ago on Thanksgiving I was on baby watch. I had just moved to Ann Arbor for my new CIO job and was living alone for 9 weeks. My first grandchild was due any day out in California. I was waiting for the call that she had gone into labor so I could buy the plane ticket and go help with the new baby the first week. Fortunately, I’m an extrovert and met a couple two weeks earlier at the church I joined who graciously invited me to Thanksgiving dinner with their family knowing I was alone in a new town.

Fast forward to this year. I’m grateful that we’ve all lived in New England within driving distance of each other since 2016. But we’ve not always been together at Thanksgiving. Once your adult kids have in-laws there is a lot of taking turns and of course the pandemic limited our family gatherings. But this year there is no baby watch, we’re all vaccinated and boosted and healthy, and all in town. We’re having dinner together at our place, and it will be the chaos of a fun family, four cousins who love every chance to be together, and dogs who love everyone unconditionally.

Family is always top of my gratitude list – this year is no exception. Hoping you have much to be thankful for and are spending time with family or friends in the coming days.  I leave you with this piece which popped up in my Facebook feed this week from Raise Her Wild with Mehr Lee – a helpful reminder of what is truly important during the holiday season:

Dear Friends,

As this holiday season picks up, I just wanted to send out a gentle reminder…

It’s not about the baseboards.

It’s not about whether they gleam or are covered in scuffs.

It’s not about the outfits.

Ripping off new tags or tattered hand-me-downs.

It’s not about the table settings.

Fine china or paper plates.

It’s not about the decor.

Pottery barn or dollar store.

It’s not about the food.

Homemade, store-bought or takeout.

It’s not about the things.

It’s about the moments

It’s about the people.

It’s about the love.

I know it’s easy to get caught up in all of the things in these coming weeks.

But may we all remember to settle ourselves for a time to take it all in.

To look around the room.

Wrap ourselves up in this moment.

Indulge in the presence of our people.

Soak in all of the love.

And be grateful.