Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I've been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading our first big holiday since the surgery.  We have broken all family traditions.  For the first time in my life, I'm not having Thanksgiving with my parents and various family members.  For the first time in about seven years, I'm not doing Black Friday shopping with my Mom.  Thanksgiving Friday has traditionally been a day to hang out with family, too. 

Everyone came to my parents' house for Thanksgiving.  I'm the youngest of four, so you start out with six and add in the various relatives and we typically had about 25-30 people in attendance.  Once my parents retired and moved, there were several changes made to Thanksgiving.  Siblings were too far away.  Cousins who had always come had started their own families and traditions.  Eventually, it came down to my family, my parents, and my brother and his slowly growing family.  So, we were down to about ten.

This year, the oldest child has been away from home to attend college.  We have missed him terribly.  We are so excited to have him coming home to us!!  So, since we have such a limited time with him (Tues night-Sat. morning), we aren't going anywhere.  We're going to spend time with him and let him visit with his friends.  So, Thanksgiving is just the five of us. 

I've got a recipe for turkey that I lifted from The World According to Eggface (http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/).  She's got a BUNCH of gastric bypass friendly recipes.  I've been worried for a little while that I won't be able to eat with my family.  Then, I've come to realize that it's not eating with my family that I should focus on, it's spending time with my family. 

My son will eventually meet someone who wants to spend Thanksgiving at her parents' home.  My girls are going to want to take over at their homes for Thanksgiving.  These last few years I have them, I am going to enjoy the time we have together.

Black Friday became a late tradition for my mom and I.  We got up around 4:30 am and moseyed over to the local mall. We happily, and slowly, meandered through the different stores.  I had a general idea of what I was looking for, but never a list.  The one thing I learned, after all those teen years with retail jobs, is that shopping first thing in the morning is a much more enjoyable experience than later in the day.  I don't care too much about the DOORBUSTER DEALS always offered.  The staff and other shoppers are much more friendly first thing in the morning for a variety of reasons.  The ones who want the deals get them.  There is no fighting for parking spots.  There's no fighting for the last item.  The list goes on and on.  Since I'm not going to be at my parents' house, I won't be doing Black Friday shopping with my mom.  We had some great war stories and some unbelievable deals for things we wanted.  I'll always remember the time I got to spend alone with her. 

This year, my girls have asked to go shopping with me on Friday.  We're going to give it a shot.  I'm still exhausted from the surgery but I really want to do this with them.  We don't have the greatest mall, which could affect how fun it is.  I'm excited to be going with them.