I always wanted a big family when I was a little kid. Coming from a divorced home, I had a very small chance of that actually working out. Both sides of my family are very complicated, so we have a hard time getting together. In fact, we don’t really try.
That means that my family consists of my mom, my brother and myself.
Even though I’d love to have a big family get together, I am not sad that I get quality time with two of my favorite people. We get to choose what we do on Thanksgiving, and we don’t have to spend time doing anything we don’t want to. My mom is the biggest Dallas Cowboys fan in the world, so we have to allow time for the game, and I love being able to do that.
The day before Thanksgiving, the three of us prepare the entire lunch. My brother and I always do the deviled eggs. That’s been our responsibility since we were children, and we just kept doing it. The three of us are very similar, so we have such a fun time making food, listening to music and catching up.
On Thanksgiving, we all get to sleep in and watch TV together. The food doesn’t take too long to prepare since most of it gets started on Wednesday. When we get done eating, we watch football and just hang out for the rest of the day.
My mom is a business owner, and she’s worked hard her entire life. I remember her working really hard when I was a kid, but she was able to take off on occasion. When she’s able to take off, we take advantage of it.
She always tries to take off on Black Friday, so we stay home on Friday.
Getting to spend some time with my family is so valuable. We all stay really busy, so we don’t get much time together. I do wish that I could have time with a larger family, but I can’t fix decades-old family relationships. I can, however, spend time with the family that I’ve chosen, which is close friends.
I like to spend time during the holidays with people I’m thankful for. More than anything in my life, I am so thankful for my family and friends.
We don’t have well-established family traditions. We get to change it up every year. We get to do what we want and invite who I want. Thanksgiving is the time that we officially transition from fall to Christmas and start putting presents under the tree.
Thanksgiving is the time we get to spend together. That’s the way it’s always been. I can’t wait for my brother and I to start our own families and bring them home for Thanksgiving. The only thing better than our situation now will be when we can bring our own kids.