LOVE THURSDAY

I probably should have considered swapping Love Thursday and Thankful Friday around seeing how Thanksgiving inevitably falls on a Love Thursday. Funny how that happens every year? Any way, it's easy to be thankful on Thanksgiving. So I'll stick to my original plan as best as I can. That's the thing about original plans. They never stay true. Michael is used to hosting Thanksgiving. He usually does all the cooking and everyone would gather at his place. This was his tradition and I kind of feel responsible for wrecking that. My house is too small for large gatherings. The people that would usually show up now have new traditions. My family is a whole state away, spread out through that state like tumbleweeds. This year, instead of entertaining and cooking, all the things he loves, he's spending his Thanksgiving in a car traveling to mom's, to Cindy and Terry's, to dad's, back to Cindy and Terry's and home again. And he's doing it all with no complaints (or very little complaint). So...this is what I want for next year. I want us moved into a bigger house, one with a big cozy kitchen and room for a large dinning table. The kitchen must be large enough to handle two cooks, because Michael will no longer be cooking alone. I want comfortable places for people to sit and relax and little window seat cubby like spots that would hide small sleeping children. I want a fireplace with a crackling fire and a puppy laid out on the rug in front of it. I want the house to smell like cinnamon and cloves and be filled with the sounds of joy. I want the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade playing in a loop on the television. I want new traditions for the three of us. And if I close my eyes, I can see it all so clearly right down to the painted walls. I can taste this dream.

This year can be our transition year. This is the year we trip our way around old traditions. This is the year we meet with the ghost of holidays past. We see how things used to be for each other and get a better understanding of the places we've come from. Because this gives us our foundation. Our place to start. But next year will be our year, not for ghosts, but for conjuring our own spirits of holidays. There's so much to love about this, I don't know where to start.

Be safe in your travels today. Happy Love Thursday!