A Really Nice Thanksgiving

Out Thanksgiving morning started off with a turkey trot.

All the kids were originally going to run it with me but one of the boys had runner’s remorse and one was sick.

So it was just the girls today.

All three girls kicked my ass.

Number 4 finished in a (disappointing for her but I’d-kill-for-that-time) 24:29 and averaged 7:54/mile.

Number 5 finished in 28:55 and averaged 9:18/mile.

Number 7 finished in 26:43 and averaged 8:36/mile.

And I finished in 31:12 and averaged 10:03/mile.

They all kicked my ass.

I wanted to go faster than I did, but now I have a goal for next year.

Plus when I ran the same race 2 years ago I averaged 11:53/mile (the course was a little easier this year but not that much easier) so I’m faster at 50 years old than I was at 48.

It wasn’t really about the time though.

I just really enjoyed starting my day off that way with the girls.

We came home and the girls were super tired and worn out from the race.

I gotta tell ya, having your kids run a race on Thanksgiving morning is a surefire way to ensure they don’t have the energy to annoy the shit out of each other.

Number 1 and 2 came home for the day, and all the kids went outside and played ultimate frisbee until dinner was ready.

My parents came up, too, so there were 11 of us all together, which is a small and manageable Thanksgiving for me.

For the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I didn’t worry about taking pictures or keeping track of what I ate.

I sat down and ate mindfully with my family and was present. I savored and enjoyed my food.

I didn’t go psycho. And for the first time ever, I didn’t eat all of the food we had. I didn’t feel compelled to eat some of everything just because it’s Thanksgiving.

There will be more Thanksgivings.

I didn’t realize this until we were all done eating.

As everyone cleared the table and brought the dishes into the kitchen I realized I didn’t eat any rolls. I didn’t have any cranberry sauce. I didn’t eat any turkey (but I haven’t had any meat since August so I didn’t plan on eating that anyway). I didn’t have turnips or pickles or olives or gravy.

There was some stuff I would have eaten more of. I would have loved more mashed potatoes and more stuffing. But I didn’t want to feel super uncomfortable for the rest of the night. So I stopped eating before I felt totally sick and didn’t keep eating just because it was Thanksgiving.

This might not be a big deal for most people, but for me it was pretty big.

Later I had some ice cream and pumpkin pie. I indulged.

But I didn’t overindulge.

When dinner was over I put all the leftovers into small containers. I didn’t leave it for tomorrow and just shove huge bowls of stuff into my fridge because I was too tired to deal with it.

I gave my parents enough leftovers to have two full dinners.

Instead of shoving the turkey into the fridge to deal with tomorrow, we took all the meat off of it and I sent most of it with my parents.

I didn’t bother saving the carcass because as much as I’d like to make turkey stock, I know the turkey will most likely sit in my fridge for a week and I won’t get to it and then I’ll just have to chuck it anyway.

So I took care of that now.

All the dishes have been washed.

And put away.

My dishwasher bit the dust about two weeks ago so this is an even bigger deal than normal.

I packed up all the Thanksgiving decorations from the house and they are in the basement.

I brought the Christmas decorations up from the basement, and Number 5 is having fun putting them out while I type this.

Number 6 and 7 are playing together.

Number 4 is logging some Grey’s Anatomy time.

I have no idea what Number 3 is doing.

I rented Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and as soon as I finish this blog post, we are gonna all watch it together.

I feel satisfied but not ill, and I’m not so exhausted that I can’t function.

It feels good to end a holiday like this.

It was a really nice Thanksgiving.