An Early Start on Thanksgiving

There is so much to be thankful for that I wanted to get a jump start on it this year.

I am so thankful for my husband. Paul and I are cooking our first Thanksgiving Day meal together this year. I cooked a turkey a few years ago and it just sucked, and Paul has never cooked one. This should be interesting! We're going to brine it and do it the Alton Brown/Good Eats/Food TV guy way, so if it's good, we'll take credit; if it's bad, we'll tell everyone that Alton sucks ;-)

Not only are we doing the turkey, we're making twice baked butternut squash/potatoes, a stuffing that's done in the crockpot, non-dairy green bean casserole, and we are smart enough to buy rolls from the best bread place (Great Harvest Bread Company - I think it's a national chain?), and Costco cranberry sauce. Thasalotta food for five people! Ooops - and I can't forget the two desserts my mom is bringing - a cranberry meringue pie and something apple-y and cobbler-y. Yum. I won't need the tryptophan to be tired after this meal.

The take-away here: I am so grateful to experience new (maybe even good tasting?!) things with Paul. Having someone to share the good and bad things with, the ups and downs with, makes life so much sweeter. I am thankful everyday that we found each other.

I am so thankful for my family and friends. I hate to lump everyone together in one category because there are definitely specific things I can speak to about most. Maybe I'll try to conquer this broad group of people over the next couple of days.

I am also so thankful for T and her family. I've known the entire journey that surrogacy is something that affects more than just the surrogate, but the events of this past weekend leave me feeling even more grateful for the comfort and encouragement she gets from her support system. It must be so scary to see your wife/friend/mom in the hospital and it just makes me think about how much they endure in a journey's lifecycle. For all of this, I am thankful.

My puppies bring me more joy and more frustration than anything else in my life. I have created needy little monsters! Actually, I lump the two of them together, but honestly Starr baby is the best dog ever. I would clone her in a heartbeat. But that little Coco is a troublemaker, messmaker, and stress-causer. I can't complain about when they snuggle, or take naps though.

I am thankful that even though they cause a bit of frustration, they bring so much joy to my life!