Thanksgiving and Christmas

This year, we decided we would spend Thanksgiving with the Howells and Christmas with the Proffitts.

John and Terri had a timeshare in Palm Springs this year. They invited us out before Thanksgiving dinner. We arrived pretty early (OK, early for me!), and the kids enjoyed some time swimming in the pool and playing air hockey. It was a gorgeous day, just warm enough. Ana had the most fun, throwing herself into the activities and spending time with her cousin, Sarah.

After some time at the timeshare, we moved to Stephanie's house for dinner. It was a huge gathering! Melanie was supposed to leave the day before, but her flight was canceled. That meant that we had all the Howells siblings, minus Ike, for the dinner. Dinner was very nice, but I gotta tell you -- I missed our traditional Thanksgiving meal horribly! Can you believe it -- Costco rolls and Sara Lee pie? Blasphemy. I won't even start on the stuffing.

Christmas was a little different this year, too. We stayed home for Christmas Eve for the first time I can remember. Rom took the kids out caroling a bit, and I stayed home and rested. We had soup in mini sourdough bowls for dinner, and that was nice. We were able to use my Christmas dishes I had bought about five years ago and hadn't yet used.

After dinner, the kids opened up Christmas jammies and gifts from their exchange. It was funny; Romney wasn't in the Christmas mood at all, until he opened his pajamas. I hadn't even blinked, and he was already changed into them. He brightened considerably, and his Scrooge imitation magically disappeared.

We were in bed early, surprise, surprise! We got up at 8 am to open gifts. Then, we went to Mom's for dinner.

I think I realize why I love our traditional dinners so much. Yes, it is rich, sumptuous, delicious food. But it is so much more than that! This was the first year I really noticed how much love goes into making that meal. Dad rubbing coarse sea salt on the turkey for four days in a row before cooking. Mom's incredible rolls. Papa's old stuffing recipe. Mom's famous cheesecake. Dad cutting up the turkey and pausing to give me a bite of stuffing fresh from the bird. Dad giving me a taste of Mom's orange rolls, a wonderfully successful experiment this year. And Dad always announcing, before dessert, that Mom really outdid herself with the cheesecakes this year.

A lot of my favorite traditions have fallen by the wayside since I'm not quite up to them anymore. But I think I've learned that if I focus on the love at Christmas, Christmas will always be perfect.