"Christmas is here mom, right?" Audrey asked me this afternoon.
"No. No, it's not." I said, as if I knew what I was talking about, in the midst of tiny snow flurries and avalanches of Black Friday ads.
I suppose we all have that holiday: the one in which we wish we could linger a little longer, because it feels as if we've only touched our toe into the pond, barely rippling the water before it's time to dry off and tread elsewhere.
For me, that holiday is Thanksgiving (my husband's favorite). I could drown myself in piles of colored leaf-bedecked magazine and pinterest pages and not come up for air for days. I dream of children's Thanksgiving parties with pilgrim hats and felt Mayflowers adorning a gourd-clad table.
I dream. However, the reality is, between the Halloween costume-sewing extravaganza, fall/winter birthdays, and the gravity-like pull of Christmas, Thanksgiving gets short-sticked around here. I have one toe in Thanksgiving and body parts flailing everywhere else.
But, last week, before the yuletide pull became too much, we took a moment to hang some leaves from the fireplace mantle. We found the free leaf printables here. The kids took turns telling me what they were thankful for, and I printed their answers, name, and the year on the back of the leaves before tying them with cotton string from Command hooks across the fireplace.
My favorite responses:
"Sneaking candy out of the pantry without telling." - Jack
"Our baby. Pumpkins. And drinks." - Nathan
I feel as if that one could have been written by a couple of thirty-somethings with three kids and a baby. "Our baby. (Our little) Pumpkins. And drinks."
"Family. Quiet time." - Jason
Jason is thankful for oxymorons.
I wrote "laughter" on the back of my leaf. Thankfully, my family never disappoints.
