Robbie and I had a stuffed (pun intended) Thanksgiving, and every minute was awesome. The day started out with "The Big Feast" at Riverside Community Church. This is the first year it was done, and it was organized by people from many different churches. The idea behind "The Big Feast" is to make a free Thanksgiving meal available to anyone who would like to enjoy sitting down with other people to eat and fellowship. Plain and simple as that. As was the goal, people who attended came for different reasons. Some came because they couldn't afford Thanksgiving dinner this year. Some came because they didn't have any family to eat with. Some came just to enjoy the opportunity to connect with the community. It was an awesome way to celebrate Thanksgiving, and it felt like family.
Robbie and I volunteered to help out with The Big Feast, and we were on the hospitality team (which was the best!). Our job (if you call eating and talking a job!!) was to sit with the people who came in to eat and just fellowship with them. We both were able to meet incredible people and shared amazing conversations with them. I've always known that we all consist of common threads that are blind to gender, race, and socio-economic status. It was so refreshing to connect with people to talk about those common threads and share our lives together for a brief moment.
After "The Big Feast" it was off to my parents' house for my side of the family's feast. As always the food was incredible, and we all ate too much of it! We had our annual hockey game going on out front, and the exchange of Christmas lists going on inside. I suspect that like most families do on any holiday, we talked about current events and holidays past.
I've noticed that in the past few years our holiday gatherings have changed. I don't want to say that they have become more special, because they have always been really special. In the past 3 years or so, we all take more time to enjoy each other and not take these moments for granted. From 2003 to 2006, we lost one family member each year, 4 total. Not to say one person is more loved than another, but losing Uncle Jimmy was the hardest. Having just turned 40 a month before, he died of a heart attack on Father's day 2006.
After the family feast, we gathered with friends and had loads of fun. Not to say my family isn't fun. :) We played games until our stomachs hurt from laughing, and snacked on even more food. Unintentionally the crowd divided like a junior high dance: boys on one side, girls on the other. The boys ended up playing one of their nerd games (involving role play cards, 20-sided dice, etc) and the girls did what we do best, talk!
So all in all, we had an incredible Thanksgiving filled with the best family and friends. And with all the feasting, we are like 20 pounds heavier today! We eventually went to bed at like 2 am, which was not the best decision for me because I had to be at my mall retail job at 8 the next morning. But I didn't care!!
This was my first Black Friday as a retail worker, and it wasn't too bad. Granted I work at a clothing store, so its not exactly high priority on the Black Friday shopping list. (unlike electronics stores) We were definitely swamped though. I personally racked up the most sales I've ever done at that job. Looking back, I'm pretty sure I was more busy at Starbucks on Black Fridays past. All those shoppers need their coffee to wait in line at 4 am!
Now we are at home enjoying our turkey hangovers, and watching awful/awesome cheesy Christmas movies. 'Tis the season!
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