Happy Thanksgiving!

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal

–Here’s one of my precious reasons for thanksgiving. I’ve got almost as many little grandbaby blessings to count as I do fingers. Nine beautiful blessings.
–I knew I wanted to get married and have children when I was fourteen. I remember thinking about what I wanted to do in life one morning on the school bus and of course, I knew I wanted to write. No, I think I knew I would write. Whether successfully remained to be seen, but I knew I would write. But I was also very sure I wanted a family. I wanted to have children and then when those children married, I hoped for grandchildren.
-And boy, were my hopes realized! I know a lot of grandmothers and grandfathers and most all of them consider those precious grandkids a good enough reason to accept adding a few years on and seeing those gray hairs and feeling those aches and pains. Especially after a bout of grandbaby sitting. You’ve heard the saying you’re only as old as you feel. Well, while the grandkids are there, us grandmoms feel young enough to run and chase and play, but when they go home then the years start tapping us on the shoulder and reminding us we’re not twenty something anymore.
–All the kids are supposed to be here on Friday for our round of Thanksgiving. They haven’t all been here at the same time since last Christmas. That’s the problem with being spread out over several states. So I’ll be cooking and getting ready tomorrow while most people are sitting down to enjoy what they’ve been cooking and getting ready today. I have done a few things. The turkey is thawing in the fridge. I wrote out my menu. I went to the grocery – again.
–Let me give you some advice. Don’t go to the grocery on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Trust me, everybody else and his Uncle Joe and Aunt Sally are already there and they’re not leaving much room for you. Or me. Luckily we didn’t have any major shopping cart jams in the cake mix aisle. At least not while I was there. I did knock over a pretty display stack of boxes of chocolate covered cherries. I think they were trying to jump in my cart to come home with me. But I managed to stack them up like a two year old playing with blocks and make my escape. At least it wasn’t bottles of turkey gravy. Now all I’ve got to do is turn those groceries into the traditional Thanksgiving dishes. I’m happy with some old timey dressing and cranberry sauce. Along with a piece of pecan pie or maybe cherry pie. And rolls. You got to have rolls. And sweet potatoes. And corn pudding. And …. Oh well, you get the idea. Maybe I should lock the scales in a closet somewhere and throw away the key until after Christmas.
–Christmas – I’m trying not to panic when I hear that word. Christmas is a season to be enjoyed. It’s a time to rejoice and see friends. So what if there are a zillion things to do to get ready and so what if a certain somebody has to be ready the week before Christmas. But I don’t like to do Christmas – not even Christmas-got-to-get-everything-done panic until after Thanksgiving. Give me a couple of days. Then we’ll see what can be accomplished in panic mode.
–One bit of writing news. I got the Baker Books summer catalogue today. The Seeker was featured on a two page spread and on the back cover. Hope it looks good enough that bookstore people will want to put it on their shelves. And readers will want to take it home. That is one thing I love to do at Christmas. I love shopping for books for everybody on my list. I could spend all my shopping time in bookstores and be very happy.
–Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with blessings smiling at you from all around the table. Enjoy.