While yesterday was not X's first Thanksgiving, he was a much more active participant this year than he was last year. We had the pleasure of spending the holiday afternoon with one of my oldest friends and her family -- sort of my surrogate family. It was a really lovely afternoon, but the hubs and I were typical anxious first-time parents -- of a toddler. We never quite relaxed while X investigated every nook and cranny of the strange new house where we spent the afternoon. A lot of "Don't touch!" and "Come over here!" and "No-no!" while we took turns running behind X, bent over at the waist. Meanwhile Mr. & Mrs. M., my friends' parents, kept telling us, "It's okay. We know how it goes with toddlers!" We just never could quite let our guard down the way we would at home or even a more familiar friend's home. Nonetheless, it was a nice afternoon -- spending Thanksgiving in a place where we felt welcome and loved is truly a gift.
It got me thinking, though. We are still a pretty new family, and we haven't yet established any holiday traditions. I think that next year, we will begin celebrating Thanksgiving at our own house. Even if it's just the three of us. Traditions have to start somewhere, right? We'll start small. Maybe in time we will be able to repay the favor to those who have taken us in over the years, so we didn't have to spend a holiday on our own.
3 comments:
Sounds like a good, if tiring, time. We spent part of yesterday with family. Fynn's my third and it was just as exhausting with her as it was with the first. Maybe more so because my oldest was such a mild, compliant baby and toddler. I don't remember when I started being able to relax with Corey, but I'm guessing it won't be next year with Fynnie, lol.
I thought of you and this post every single freaking day from Saturday night through yesterday afternoon when we left my brother-in-law's apartment and came home. One thing helped: Fynn loves to sit in regular chairs at the dining table now. That and a few washable paint pens and we had a little down time.
Oh, man. It's HARD going to other people's houses... especially when they don't have kids! I'm always nervous he's going to wreck something. But I guess we have to keep visiting people, or he'll never learn how to act at someone else's house!
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