Thankful for burning the biscuits

Last year we had an awesome Thanksgiving because my whole entire family came and it was a great big party. Well, my infamous cooking is probably to blame, but this year J and I were on our own. Because we are planning a huge trip to see everyone (ha, you think you can escape us by not coming for Thanksgiving?! We will gladly bring GERD-baby to you) in December, we decided it was just as well that we chill a little for this holiday. Especially because J is in the thick of studying for boards. And also we have been too sleep deprived to keep up with our social calendar this week already.
So we decided to keep everything low key. But then I overheard J say to friend on the phone, "I dunno, probably we'll have some leftover chili or something". And it just sounded wrong. So Little One and I went on a mission to Save Thanksgiving! I'm thinking They might make a Hollywood children's special out of it for next year.
I went to the store to gather supplies for Operation Tofurkey, and I promise I did not go to all the ones that were closed just because it was my first time out without Little One. Actually I kind of missed her. Several grocery stores jam-packed with panicked patrons who had waited until the last minute and were frantically beseeching employees as to whether they might have every foodstuff known to man in a can, I came home with some items. Which were obviously "special for the holiday" as advertised, or surely they would not have cost so much more than they do the rest of the year.
I came home and Little One and I got cookin. Because Little One wanted so badly to help that she got quite upset when not participating in the action, we made a lot of the dishes together, and so I am now happy to report that I've got a pretty good act worked out should Little One and I ever need to run away and join the circus!
This turned out to be a good thing. As I mentioned earlier, my cooking skills are infamous. The thing is that the level of anxiety I have over making a good meal is inversely proportional to the edibility of said meal.
For example, one of the few things I can reliably make that turns out pretty well is my mom's apple pie. It's pretty tasty, if I do say so. Which is why I decided, when J and I were dating, to make one for his family. Well, take into account the fact that it was the first thing I had cooked for these people, and the fact that J's mom makes Martha Stewart look like a third-rate fry cook, I was nervous as heck about getting that pie to be my Best Ever. So naturally, it turned out more like apple soup with some crusty little globs of dough floating about the top like sad little glaciers.
J has inherited some chef talent from his mom (not that I will EVER complain about that. I consider it to be one of the greater bonus points awarded to me by the cosmos). Plus he is also J. Which means he's all cute and awesome and everything, and I want to impress him so I can trick him into being my boyfriend. Which means, obviously, that everything I make for him is horrid. Even toast. Seriously.
So dinner could have been a true fiasco, but Little One saved the day, I think, by completely distracting me from how much I wanted J to like it. Thanks Little One! I think everything turned out not to be a hazard to anyone's teeth or general health! And then the best part is, we all sat down, my little family, for the first time, and had Thanksgiving dinner together.Now. Thanksgiving, like any holiday really, is kind of arbitrary. It's just another day, that someone gave a fancy name to, giving us a reason to overspend, overeat, overextend. But I'm glad that we decided to go ahead and celebrate. Because holidays are also a reminder to pause in our busy lives, change perspectives a minute and focus on things that do matter. Especially today.
Thinking about everything I have to be thankful for this year is just completely overwhelming. It always is, of course, because I have been pretty lucky from the get go having been born into a family that loves me, and not having lost any limbs trying to cook or anything like that.
But this year...whoa. Of course, Little One sort of tops the chart just by existing in our lives. But She also makes me so much more grateful for things I usually take for granted.
I find myself thinking things like, "Thank goodness for the excellent health care we have. Thank goodness for the maintenence of these roads and the invention of car seats. Thank heavens for central heating, for smoke alarms, for having two strong legs to do the Living Room Marathon with".
I can't help thinking today about so many moms I've known, and the millions more I'll never meet, who don't have those things. I think about the kids who don't have warm homes, enough food, or families to love them. Who don't have safe lives or certain futures and who are thankful anyways. It makes me ache for all the mothers who's babies are in danger, and all the little ones out there who don't have Enough. But it also makes me that much more intensely aware and grateful of all I have.
We’re all healthy. We have our home, our families, each other. We live in a place and time where we don’t have to fear for our safety or future. Where I can tell Little One that she can be anything she wants when she grows up- and the opportunity for that is real. Today I am so thankful for so many things. But most of all, I'm thankful my life is such that I lived a whole day, and my biggest worry was burning the biscuits. That's really something.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you- I'm thankful for you, too. :)