You know how you always felt a little bit sorry for the kids who had Christmas birthdays?  It’s one thing to have the same birthday as a celebrity.  For example, I have the same birthday as Channing Tatum.  (You can see who you share a birthday with here.)  But sharing a birthday with our lord and savior — that’s another story.  Not to mention kind of getting stiffed on the birthday gifts, which inevitably got combined with the Christmas gifts (“I got you this for your birthday AND Christmas.”)  Well, I think having a Thanksgiving birthday must be almost as bad.

Because every kid dreams of a turkey-themed birthday party, right?  Look at that turkey sharing the limelight with the birthday cake.  That is just wrong.  You can imagine the birthday party invitations — “Our little turkey is turning 5!”  Instead of a beautiful unicorn or fire truck piñata, the partygoers most likely get to bust one open that’s shaped like a pilgrim hat, probably filled with candy corn.  I’m guessing each guest gets a little loaf of pumpkin bread as a party favor.  Yep, I think it would suck to have a Thanksgiving birthday.

Maybe the only thing worse than having to have your birthday cake at Thanksgiving dinner is to not have Thanksgiving dinner at all.  The first year I was out on my own, working as a nurse, both my roommate and I had to work Thanksgiving day.  I remember sitting in the break room eating the egg salad sandwich I’d brought with me, and thought, “this sucks.”  From that point on, even if we had to work, we always cooked a Thanksgiving dinner, and invited other hospital friends who were working a shift or couldn’t leave because they were on call.  Those were some great dinners.

Thanksgiving dinner with family, now that did not suck at all.  In fact, I really enjoyed it.  Although the meal is always essentially the same — we probably ate pretty much the same thing you and yours did — there were lots of changes in the family this year.  A first Thanksgiving home from college, a recent engagement, a new driver, a few empty chairs due to a pending divorce.  In 2011, I thought we were having our last Thanksgiving with my father-in-law, but I am delighted to share that we have had 3 Thanksgivings since then and are looking forward to many more.

We had a little snap of freezing weather recently, which rewarded us with glorious fall colors, not usually associated with autumn in Texas.  The crape myrtles, sycamores, tallows, and maples all got in on the act.  The vivid foliage combined with the cooler temperatures we’ve been enjoying, definitely made it feel more Thanksgiving-ish:

A repurposed Halloween pumpkin stood ready to welcome everyone:

I made a silly turkey centerpiece for the kids table:

 I didn’t say it looked exactly like a turkey

And glittered some acorns to scatter around the grown-ups table (I know what you’re thinking):

 And just in case anyone still thinks I take myself too seriously, I made a turkey fruit tray:

As much as I look forward to Thanksgiving, my favorite part of the holiday may just be the long relaxed weekend that follows, where the biggest decision I have to make is whether to go buy a Christmas tree.  It’s been especially great having my daughter home, and I know the days between this visit and the long Christmas break will fly by.  🙂