What You Might Have Seen

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving, full of family, friends and turkey.  As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the most important part for me is the stuffing, so despite the buzz about our new turkey fryer and the unsuspecting bird that we served up, I was happy to sample bits of the umpteen side dishes we crafted and dig into a vat of those tasty bread cubes.

I wish I'd taken a picture of that plate.  For that matter, I wish I had taken any photos at all to remember our meal together.  I suppose if I had, however, you wouldn't have seen the fifteen of us smiling calmly, poised with forks in hand.  Here's what you probably would have seen.

You would have seen me corralling all of my boys (Joel included) to the basement to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  You would have seen that not one of them cared, Cael and Graham happier to tackle one another and wrestle Daddy than watch the big balloons.  You would have seen me give up and head to the kitchen to start cooking, only to overhear Cael say, "Graham, you start walking and I'll yank you down SUPER hard like you're up in the air on strings!"  And you'd see me roll my eyes when Graham responded with, "Okay, Cael!  Pull me down!"

You would have seen me in my glasses and pajamas running frantically around the kitchen until 5:15pm when I saw the first headlights turn into my driveway.  It was at that point that I finally got dressed for the day, hair and makeup done, and not one member of my family was rude enough to tell me that I had chunks of pecan pie goo stuck in my hair.

You would have seen us fanning ourselves and opening windows to counteract the lava-like heat of the oven, stovetop and toaster working in unison.  You might have also seen me at 2:30am, getting up to pee for the 67th time and wondering why the house was only 59 degrees, until I awoke from my stupor and shut the windows.

You would have seen the teenagers sigh after being caught texting in their laps during dinner, and you would have seen the adults, full and happy after supper, sitting in companionable silence as we all zoned into our phones.

You would have seen Cael gobbling up his plate of food in a spectacular fashion, as if his chance at pie was on the line, and Graham, alone at the table 55 minutes later pushing around the same six pieces of turkey that were placed on his plate at the beginning of the meal.

You would have seen me doing dishes and not paying attention while my dog devoured a turkey thigh and what looked like a wooden spoon.

You would have seen my sisters and I strategizing about Christmas gifts and how to best take advantage of the big sales without having to deal with the maniacal Black Friday shoppers.  You would have eventually seen the three of us in a line at Ulta anyway, buying things for ourselves and not feeling even a little bit guilty.  We earned it.  We had to deal with those people crazy enough to go out.  Oh, wait...

You would have seen Sarah and I laughing hard enough to wipe away tears while sorting through my Mom's old jewelry box filled with gaudy 80's necklaces and enough pins and brooches to stock a jewelry counter.  You would have seen us double over when we discovered that one of the drawers was filled with her children's pulled baby teeth.

If I'd remembered to take some pictures, you might have seen it.  But instead, I was too busy cooking and eating and laughing; making memories.

I hope you had a photo-free Thanksgiving yourself, and I hope you left some stuffing for me!