March 28, 2024

My favorite holiday

I love Thanksgiving. I might even go as far as to say it’s my favorite holiday.

When the kids were young, they would sit in front of the television for several hours watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, just waiting for the grand finale — Santa Claus. To this day, although I no longer have little ones snuggled in their pajamas and curled up in their blankets watching the Rugrats or Barney hovering over the crowds in NYC, I still like to have the parade playing on the TV.

I enjoy cooking so I actually like spending that particular morning in the kitchen — mixing, measuring, kneading, whipping and creating a meal that will be consumed in about 15 minutes. However, with my advancing age — I’m allowed to say that, but no one else better — I’m taking a few shortcuts. There will be no kneading, just thawing.

And pies? I am so blessed to have a future son-in-law that has proven himself to be ‘king’ of desserts, making not only beautifully frosted, melt-in-your-mouth cupcakes, but delicious pies as well. He really, truly bakes!

My hubby is a police officer and has been for more than 26 years, so holidays at my house have been celebrated around his work schedule, meaning depending on the shift he’s working, we simply plan around it. It wasn’t a big deal when our offspring were little. Our Thanksgiving meal may be at 10 a.m. or 8 p.m., or Christmas Day we might open gifts at 4 a.m. if we had to, because there was no way we could ask three kids to wait to see what Santa brought them until their daddy went 10-42.

Now that the kids are grown, with their own families or ‘significant others,’ we have an additional scheduling challenge of sharing them with other people. However, we make it work. We always do.

So anyway...

We enjoyed our family time over the weekend and I had a houseful. When my kids come home for a holiday, they like to make it a 3-day event. We love having the house full again... since we know it’s temporary.

But I will be alone Thanksgiving day and it’s not a bad thing at all.

I will spend my day relaxing and enjoying some chai tea, putting away the fall decorations and bringing the Christmas decor out of the basement and arranging it around the house.

By the time hubby comes home from work, he will be walking into a home readied for Christmas. I love Christmas. I might even go as far as to say it’s my favorite holiday.

Contact Dana King at 515-994-2349 or
dking@jaspercountytribune.com

Dana King

Dana King

Multitasking duties between the Newton News, PCM Explorer and the Jasper County Tribune.