Tag: Thanksgiving

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Thankful Thoughts

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, This particular holiday encourages us all to stop and take moment to consider what we are thankful for. For me, Thanksgiving is the official beginning of “the holiday season”. Therefore, I do try to take time to give thanks for what and who I have in my life before I get too busy to stop and think about anything.

Family

My family is very important to me and I am very grateful that four of my five siblings are still alive. So I occasionally plan their demise. That’s what siblings do! We aggravate each other and come up with creative endings for whichever sibling is most irritating at the moment.

My daughter has always been a joy to me, and I am very blessed to have a strong relationship with her. We’ve had our ups and downs, but we have a very solid bond now. I appreciate that she has made good choices as an adult, but still needs me from time to time. I have also been blessed with a most    excellent son-in-law, and two of the most beautiful grandchildren ever.

Most of all, when it comes to family, I am extremely grateful that my parents are still with us. I acknowledge that I won’t have too many more years with them, and so what time we do have….I cherish more than I can possibly say.

Last, but certainly not least, I can not begin to tell you how thankful I am for my Hunny Bun. He makes it easy for me to be me. Does he irritate me beyond measure at times? Absolutely! However, he mostly makes me laugh out loud. And laughter is the greatest gift we can give and/or receive.

Friends

Let’s be completely honest with each other. I have TWO people I actually consider friends. As an introvert, friends are not a necessity for me. With that being said, I love these two women as sisters. One friend describes herself as “crunchy”, and she is. Smart, creative, loyal, loving, and  The other friend is loud, audacious, unapologetic, and always up for another adventure. She is my road trip/girls trip buddy and we have a lot of laughs together.

Health and Athena

There is absolutely no way I can leave without giving my most profound thanks for the good health I have. There is no small pharmacy in my medicine cabinet for a myriad of health issues. I count my blessings everyday for that one small fact of my life.

I couldn’t possibly forget Athena in my list of who and what I’m thankful for in 2025. Athena has brought Hunny Bun and I so much joy and laughter in the 4 years she’s been with us. The unconditional love and adoration I see in her eyes is worth every hair I sweep up.

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Holidays Are For Family And Mayhem

It’s November 13, and Thanksgiving is a mere two weeks away. That means it’s the season for mischief and mayhem. And this year is going to be filled with plenty of mayhem for me.

Most of my family live in Georgia. But I moved to the Washington, DC area 10 years ago and don’t normally go home for Thanksgiving because I don’t want to have to deal with Atlanta Hartsfield airport madness during the busiest travel week of the year. I also don’t want to deal with holiday traffic getting in and out of DC by car or bus. But, if I want to go home, and I do this year, I can always take the train.

Now the train ride from DC to Atlanta takes 14 hours. That’s a long train ride. However, you don’t have the same hassles that you deal with when flying. For example, I can check two full size suitcases for free and not have to worry about my luggage getting lost. I am also allowed two carry-on items and a personal item. If I need to carry-on more than that, it’s a fee of $20 per extra item, that’s cheaper than checking a suitcase when flying. Also, the train is an overnight train. That means the train is schedule to leave at approximately 6:30 p.m. and arrive in Atlanta at approximately 8:43 a.m. the next day. For the return, departure is scheduled for 11:30 p.m. from Atlanta and arrives in DC the next day at approximately 1:47 p.m. If you’re not in a rush, and I’m not, it’s doable.

I’ve taken this train trip several times over the years. At first, I always booked a ticket for coach. Three or four train rides to Atlanta and back ago, I upgraded to booking a roomette. Why would I pay a lot more for a roomette? Because I’m an introvert wanting to avoid other people. In a roomette I can close and lock my door in order to cocoon myself from the rest of the world. It’s perfect! The two seats in a roomette fold down flat to create a bed, so I also get to sleep laying flat. Those two things alone make traveling home to visit family a much more pleasant experience for me. Another benefit of having a roomette and being able to shut and lock the door….I don’t need my earbuds to listen to music or a book. I am one of those people that can’t read or watch a movie while in motion. I will literally get motion sickness whenever I try.

When I come back from this Thanksgiving trip, I will dive into the mayhem of holiday cooking/baking. From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, I can usually be found in my kitchen making peanut brittle, baking cookies, and cooking holiday meals. It’s constant chaos.

But wait….there’s something else in the mix this year. Hunny Bun and I will head back to Manhattan via the train for two nights. We’re going to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at the iconic Radio City Music Hall (we went two years ago and loved it so are going back to see them again). We will see Hamilton on Broadway. And I will check off another “bucket list” item….ice skating at Wollman Rink in Central Park. Two years ago I checked ice skating at Rockefeller Center off my “bucket list”.  And as time permits, we will see and do a couple of others things that are on our “Can Do Only In New York” list.

And thru all of that, I must have my Christmas music, Christmas movies, and Christmas books. Trust me, once Thanksgiving turkey has been consumed, it will be all Christmas all the time until the day after Christmas. Lucky for me that Hunny Bun doesn’t seem to mind. Our one disagreement is over whether the movie ‘Die Hard’ is a Christmas movie. Now before I get inundated with opinions on that subject….I honestly don’t care what anyone else’s opinion is on that.

So what you can expect over the next few weeks are blogs about my traveling experiences, the antics my family gets up to during the holidays, blogs about time spent with my two grandchildren, my adventures in holiday cooking/baking, and what I’m reading/listening to. I have jam packed holiday season ahead. What are your plans this holiday season? Let me know what you’re up to, I might want to add one of your holiday traditions/experiences to mine.