OK, it’s time to own up and admit just how selfish I really am. 

For the past few days Paul and I have been shopping, cleaning, organizing, brining, and then shopping some more. We have decorated the house (if you can call Pinterest-inspired, toddler-created turkeys as “decorations”). At any rate, we put out a lot of energy as we got ready for our usual Thanksgiving dinner here at our house.

One of my closest and oldest friends was here to help with the chopping, basting, dog walking and general chaos as we got ready. That made the whole event more festive and more fun, and gave us the sense that it was really a two day holiday instead of only one. It made up for the fact that two of our three kids weren’t here.

Still, it was hard work. I’ll admit it! Hours of preparation, but then lots of Fun. Spending time with the family, laughter, catching up on each other’s lives. There some extra silliness from the sparkling birthday candles I got for my sister Liz, who has always had to celebrate her birthday on Thanksgiving.  I made sure there was a cake for her, remembering all the years of candles stuck into pumpkin pies!

We had lots of prosecco, wine, beer and maybe a bit of bourbon. Which could explain some of the silliness.

Because I come from a family of cooks, we had so much food that the coma started before the appetizers were nearly finished.

Don’t even get me started on the pie.

It was great! I love hosting any event, but I especially love hosting Thanksgiving. I do!

But you know what? It isn’t because I imagine myself to be some kind of wannabe Martha Stewart. It isn’t because for some reason I suspect that I make the best turkey (how do you screw up a roasted turkey anyway?) I don’t invite everyone here because my two jump-in-yer-face dogs are such a treat or because we live in the middle of freakin’ nowhere.

Nope.

I’m so sorry, dear beloved family. 

I do it because I LOVE the Friday after Thanksgiving.  It’s probably my favorite day of the year.

And no, it’s not because we shop.

No. We sleep in. We wake up to a house that is organized and neat with clean bathrooms and no bugs in the light fixtures. The laundry is done (because sometime during the holiday I ran out of dishtowels) and the dishwasher is full of clean items (for obvious reasons).

Best of all, there is always a fridge full of food that I don’t need to cook today. There is always a bowl of whipped cream that I can plop into my coffee and a dish of nuts to crack later. Best of all, there’s always leftover rice/sausage stuffing from my Mom that I can heat up with a big blob of cranberry sauce and eat in front of the TV in my flannel pants.

I’d like to say I’m a paragon of hostessing wonderfulness, but nothing could be further from the truth. 

I’m just a lazy woman who totally relishes the day after the big event when the most pressing thing on my agenda is deciding which kind of pie I want for breakfast.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and have some leftovers of your own to enjoy!