Saturday, November 22, 2008

Before the bird.

It is a lazy Saturday in Mr. Husband land. He’s fumbled around from one thing to another without any clear aim in mind: video games in bathrobe, a warm afternoon nooner, pizza for lunch with more video games, a movie in front of the fire, and folding laundry. He is happy. I am happy. We have no plans today. We stop in the middle of doing nothing much at all and stare at each other to smile, both of us secretly declaring how lucky we are. Here we are for one brief moment after a whirlwind two weeks that included Mr. Husband presenting at a Forum and me having publishers in town from Germany. It was busy.

And, then, here comes Thanksgiving. The year when my father passes down the Klusendorf Family Turkey Secrets to Mr. Husband.

This year, Thanksgiving is at our new house. Mr. Husband and I decided early on in our relationship that neither family will ever feel left out or feel second-best. It’s a hard task to accomplish, but can be done by applying much care. Therefore, the holidays alternate between families. If we spend Thanksgiving with my family, then we spend Christmas with his family and vice versa. We are finding now that we’re married that spending time with our parents is so important—it makes for family. We look forward to adding to this family one day, so we are always working to bring both families together. We are very fortunate in that both sets of parents genuinely enjoy each other. They have a good time together without our having to push or plead. Mr. Husband’s parents even went to visit my parents this past August—without our being along for the trip. We could hear the laughter resounding all the way from Florida.

Tomorrow we will buy our eighteen-pound turkey—enough for everyone. While both Mr. Husband’s brothers have girlfriend’s homes to visit for their own Thanksgiving, we are still planning on their sampling our first turkey in the new house. It’ll be new-house-turkey! It’ll still have that new-house-turkey smell. So we must have turkey enough for thirteen people, plus leftovers. On Wednesday, my parents, older brother, sister-in-law, and grandma will venture their way from Florida. We’re going to have a pie-making contest on Wednesday evening to kick off the holiday festivities. It will be my sister-in-law’s first visit to our new house. I am excited to show her all our nooks and crannies. My sister-in-law is often my best friend—the one who always brings the understanding and the shopping. Let there be shopping!

On Thursday, Mr. Father-in-Law and Mrs. Mother-in-Law will make their way to our home, a mere twelve-mile trek down Valleydale, and we’ll all work together to bring the Thanksgiving Day feast to life. Mrs. Mother-in-Law will bring the happiness and laughter that she always keeps close in her pocket, and Mr. Father-in-Law will bring his limericks. The two of them breathe life into any room. Add this to my parents, and you have a room brimming over with fun and family happiness. I am looking forward to it like it’s our wedding all over again.

We’ve planned for this day all year. We will break out the fine china for its very first dinner. Mr. Husband carefully helped me select placemats, napkins, and napkin rings that match. We have round placemats so that we can fit nine at our table that was purchased especially with many Thanksgivings to come in mind. Everyone will drink from lead crystal glasses or from Reidels. Everything will be perfect … and then we’ll wait for something to go wrong. Something will. And we know it. That’s ok. Our table will be beautiful and our house will be filled with laughter and the love of those that we like having closest. And then we’ll thankfully eat the bird.

2 comments:

facingthetrend said...

Rhonda and you are holding a Parisian bag. *sob* I miss that place!

--Deborah

facingthetrend said...

This. Blog. Needs. To. Be. Updated. Soon.

--Deborah