y thanksgiving celebration began this year like most people’s.  October was almost over and my thoughts began to turn to turkey.  As is usually the case, my family assumed that we would gather at my youngest brother’s house for Thanksgiving.  He has more space.  What I learned during the process of planning this dinner was that Thanksgiving isn’t just about turkey, gravy, and pumpkin pie.  Oh, no, it’s about space!

 

My brother indicated that after hosting the dinner several years at his house, he wasn’t up to hosting it this year.  I totally understood and figured that he and his family wanted to spend a quiet Thanksgiving at home.  My sister told me that she has to work, both the day before and the day after Thanksgiving.  Therefore, she didn’t want to host our dinner either.  My older brother and his family weren’t quite sure what their plans were at the time, but they had been leaning toward going to my youngest brother’s house.  Although they had made an offer to host the dinner, I really wanted to spend Thanksgiving in my own place.  I decided that since our family seemed to be growing, it was quite all right for each of us to have Thanksgiving at our respective homes and get together over the weekend at some point.  Since my daughter, Amber, and I had just moved, this meant that there would be just the two of us on Thanksgiving day.  The thought of this did not thrill her one bit.

 

I casually mentioned to a friend what my plans were.  She quickly and unexpectedly invited herself to our Thanksgiving dinner.  “I’ll bring pie!” she offered gleefully.  She told me that she had no plans for Thanksgiving, would love to see our new place, and would enjoy spending time with us.  “Sure!” I said.  “That would be great!”  I was stunned.  My friend seemed so reclusive!  I could hardly believe that she wanted to join us.  However, Thanksgiving is the perfect time to have friends over who have no where to go.  It reminded me of earlier years when I invited lots of my friend over for Thanksgiving.

 

The following week, my sister emailed me and announced that she and her two children would join us for Thanksgiving.  “Oh, okay!”  I informed her that my friend would also be joining us.  My sister began to sulk.  “Why?” she asked.  “Why can’t it be just us?” she moaned.   Then, she went on to say that she didn’t want my friend to come and that we weren’t going to have any fun.  Truth be told, my friends are wonderful people.  I can’t help it if she doesn’t see them for their true worth!  After all, it was Thanksgiving, a time for generosity, friendship and, yes, even family!  Don't get me wrong.  My sister and I share sisterly love, but being my younger sister, we find that we must always enforce a three-day rule or a three-hour rule if needed in terms of being together so that we won’t get on each other’s nerves.  It rarely works.

 

At any rate, a couple of days later I received an email from my older brother.  He and his family wanted to join us as well.  Now, let’s see…Amber and I make two people…plus my friend makes three…then, there’s my sister and her family, which makes six…and now my older brother and his family, which makes nine people in attendance.  Suddenly, I started to giggle. When my sister gets wind of all the people joining us for dinner, it is going to push her over the edge!  She loves everybody, but she won’t love them in my small apartment!  She wants us to move the dinner to my youngest brother’s house.  However, this is my dinner and I don't think it’s necessary!

 

Once I found out that my older brother and his family were coming, naturally, I wanted to invite my youngest brother and his family to join us as well, so I emailed them.  Why should they be left out?  For some strange reason, I thought no one would want to come to my place for Thanksgiving, but I was proven wrong!  They all wanted to come!  Like Sally Fields, I felt like yelling, “They like me!  They really, really like me!” but, I held myself in check.  I received an email back saying that my youngest brother and his family would also love to join us.  “Great!” I replied back.  Now, how many people did I say were coming?  Ten!  That’s right!  Ten, plus four more people gives us fourteen people for dinner in my teeny, tiny, apartment. 

 

Did I say fourteen?  I meant fifteen!  Today I received a call from a friend who said that she would like to join us for Thanksgiving.  “Wonderful!”  I said.  “The more the merrier!”  By the way,” I continued, “there will be fifteen of us!”  “Sounds good!” she responded.  As I sit here, I can barely keep from laughing!  What will my sister say when I give her the new head-count?   Every time someone was considering coming, or I was about to extend an invitation I’d tell her, “No, they won’t come. You’ll see!”  I was so wrong.   She’s so worried about “the numbers” that she called me late last night and suggested that she and her family eat in my “bedroom” and one of my brothers’ families eat in Amber’s “bedroom.”  “Enough!” I screamed.  “Why are you so worried about it?”  My theory is, “heat it and they will come!”  I just know they will!

 

Let’s face it!  Thanksgiving is a time to squeeze in close together.  It’s a time to be thankful that we’re all here to do just that, and to wallow in the craziness that is family.  I love my real family as well as my chosen family.  Having Thanksgiving at my place will allow everyone to share funny stories, enjoy good food, and hopefully, concentrate on something other than football—even in a small space.  In the end, it’s my hope that everyone will depart full of food, full of laughter, and filled with the thankfulness that we should all experience on Thanksgiving day and always!