Turkey-riffic

Fall is the best season, and Thanksgiving is the crowning jewel of the best season.

When I was younger, the family that came together for Thanksgiving was the same family I hung out with all the time. This is why when it came time to gather around the table and say what each of us was thankful for, I always said, "Family," but thought, mashed potatoes.

Two main elements contributed to my love for the holiday:

1. Good food in preposterous portions; and

2. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

A lot has changed in the last twenty years. I moved away from home, gained a new appreciation for my family since I wasn't seeing them all the time, married a man who gave me more family, decided it wasn't fun anymore to stuff myself until turkey fat oozed out my pores, and lost interest in the parade when nobody else wanted to get up at the crack of 9 a.m. with me to watch it.

So now I have two new reasons to love Thanksgiving:

1. Good family in preposterous portions; and

2. Christmas shopping with Mom.

Black Friday shopping means the insanity of waking up at 3 am and beating a mob of quilters to the doorbusters at Joann Fabrics. But it also means combining three of my favorite things in the whole wide world: scheming about presents, spending time with my mother, and nursing a tryptophan hangover.

Because ultimately, secretly, and much to the disgust of genuine turkey-lovers, my favorite part about Thanksgiving is the part where it makes way for Christmas.


HORSE prompt: What's something you no longer do that you wish you still did?