Thank you clarity

2 days left of NaBloPoMo and it’s been kicking our butts. It’s hard to know what to blog about sometimes…is this mostly a blog about our son? Our family? Our lives? Those are all very different topics, though intertwined of course, but it’s hard to know what’s appropriate or comfortable to share in this space.

So we’ll just talk about Thanksgiving. The night before Thanksgiving day, we went to my parents’ house about 35 min northeast from where we live. They had agreed to let Curly sleep over while we went out for a night on the town. We met up with a friend in the city, played gay bingo but didn’t win anything, went to a diner until about 1am and then returned to my parents’ house to sleep over ourselves. In turn, my parents played with Curly, put him to bed, and got to see all of us in the morning before they left for a relatives’ house for Thanksgiving. We split up the holidays between our families every year, and this year we were having the feast at Nutella’s parents’ house about 45 min southwest from where we live.

So later on Thanksgiving day, that’s what we did. There were 17 people at the meal, seated at a very long table in their sun room. Curly was not in a particularly good ‘sit and eat’ mood, so when he finished eating and lost interest in the toys we gave him, we let him run laps around the table to the amusement of the guests. He had a blast and we were able to continue eating and chatting while all the relatives fawned over him.

On Sunday evening, we went to a neighbor’s house literally behind our house. Their son is in daycare with Curly and we became fast friends ever since they moved in several months ago. We had split the cost of a turkey from our farmer’s market and Nutella tried out a new malt beer brining recipe. She also made a couple side dishes and our neighbors provided sides and a pumpkin pie. Curly and his friend had milk-chugging contests while we chatted, and then later on took turns pushing each other around the house in a small wagon.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in many ways and were able to see just how lucky we are. We have amazing family, friends and community. We don’t always take a step back to really appreciate it, but we should. It was definitely evident this long weekend.