Gee, thanks.

Today was my first official day of Thanksgiving prep. I would have started YESTERDAY but Sunday did not quite turn out as I had planned, and I spent Monday sleeping/recovering. Long story, and one that deserves it's very own post....so it will get one. Later.

But today was my Thanksgiving lift-off.

I love Thanksgiving.

I don't love it like "Oh, I just love Thanksgiving !"

I fucking love it, okay. I love it like a brother. I love this holiday, and my life would never be the same without it and the holidays wouldn't be the holidays and there would be no reason to go on celebrating any of those other religion-based holidays, or holidays celebrating how fucking fantastic our country is or how we survived another year....none of it would matter anymore, without this one day.

Thanksgiving. I love the name. I love the meaning. I love the history. I love the food. I have contemplated getting a Thanksgiving-themed tattoo, I love it so damn much. (maybe a tramp stamp of turkey feathers? Or "gobble gobble" under my belly button? I'm open to suggestions.)

But tattooing aside, I celebrate this holiday for all it's worth. I don't go in for the commercialized Thanksgiving bullshit, I'm not going to have candles in the shape of pilgrims and indians, or paper napkins with a cornucopia printed on them......I'm just going to make an insane meal with my friends, and drink a lot of wine, and be thankful for my life. It's a bit of an open house vibe, so people will be stopping by during the afternoon to nibble and chat, and then at 6pm we have a dinner that I would bet is going to beat the pants off of whatever crap YOU'RE eating. Sorry, I'm thankful that I am so competitive, and I am thankful that my friends are all excellent cooks (or know where to buy the gourmet goodies and bring the good wine).

I think that being grateful is incredibly important. I spend a lot of time bitching about stuff, but trust me when I tell you that I have an attitude adjustment at least once every day about how amazing my life is, and what a gift it is, and how important it is to pay it forward, and pay it back.

This is how Thanksgiving goes around here. I sleep in. Don't judge. I am thankful for a comfy bed and a roof and doors and electricity so that I can put off cooking till later and the kids will sit somewhere else and watch a movie so I can sleep past 6am, alright?

Then when I am damn good and ready, we go to the beach for a few hours. This is when we call the family, and pass the phone around and try not to make too much of the fact that we are on the beach and they are in turtlenecks watching it piss rain outside in New England.

At around noon, we begin turkey prep.

This is top secret, and I am not telling you anything other then "sherry". That's it. That's all you get.

And at about 2pm I take a shower and get changed into my Thanksgiving garb, because I have a special outfit for my special day.

By 3 the wine is open and people are arriving and I am on the sofa watching the highlights of the Macy's parade.

By 5pm everyone who is coming for dinner is pretty much in the house. Music is going, wine is still flowing, I am taking the turkey's temperature, and lighting candles.

At 6pm, we eat. By 8pm I am in a food coma, and crawling into bed with the Black Friday circulars.

And so goes another Thanksgiving. Full of thanks. And giving.