gratitude

Unlike certain others of my friends, I've never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving. It's fine, but it's no Halloween. It hasn't been a family holiday since I left for college, at least in the traditional sense. Greensboro was a long way from Florida, and it never made sense to travel such a long way for such a short time. (I suppose I probably inherited my lackadaisical attitude about Thanksgiving; no one in my immediate family has seemed enthusiastic about the whole ordeal.) I've had the big dinner with the family of friends - driving down to Atlanta with my freshman year roommate, or having a friend's family take me to a cafeteria in Greensboro. I've spent Thanksgiving alone in a dorm room.


Two years ago, I had my first "Friends-giving" (also called Friend-Thanksgiving) with Daniel, Jo, and some of our GSO friends who were similarly in town for the holiday. This was before cooking sunk its claws in me, so my contribution was wine-bringing and bread-crumb-making. The three of us wound up in the same city after Jo & I graduated, so we brought the newly minted tradition of Friend-Thanksgiving with us. This really just meant that we all had two Thanksgivings in three different places, between the five of us that participated.


And this year, for the third year in a row, we will have Friend-Thanksgiving. And for the first time, I am responsible for something other than wine! That's right, this year I will be making my pumpkin cheesecake again. Which is why there's no recipe here today. But don't you worry, I have Other Holiday Baking that I am doing, which is kind of hush-hush right now, so there will be all sorts of goodness in the coming weeks. I'm excited.

(I realize I don't actually talk about gratitude in this post, but suffice it to say I am so grateful for these people who have welcomed me into their families for Thanksgiving, and who have joined with me to form our own little families, and also - of course - for my own family, even if I haven't shared Thanksgiving with them in a while.)