Scribblemom.com
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gallery
  • scribble mom.com

Happy Thanksgiving, Part 3

11/26/2014

8 Comments

 

If you have read Part 1 and Part 2 of this story, then you’ll know what happens next. 

Happy Gluten Free Thanksgiving!

“NO!”  My brain wanted to shout.

It was, indeed.  A Thanksgiving Traditionalist nightmare. 

“Well, people all over the globe eat this way.”  I told myself.

“No!”

“Actually, yes.  Africa, Asia, South America, Antarctica…”

Look, if you have to hold Antarctica up as an example to defend your menu and food choices, then something is seriously wrong with your life.  And besides, those continents don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.

But truth is truth, and facts are facts.  We couldn’t go anywhere to eat anymore.  Not with Stella and her Celiac Disease.  Even if we packed her a dinner from home and went to Grandma’s, we would have to follow her like hawks to make sure she didn’t toddle over to the buffet or the cookie trays and eat something that would cause her hours of screaming and pain.

We would have to stay home and make our little family a Gluten Free Thanksgiving.  

“Well,” said my mom.  “If you’re not coming to our Thanksgiving dinner, then we are coming to yours.”  

“Really?”  I was surprised.  “You guys would do that for us?”  

Everyone?

I have a big family.  Some of them are normal.  They’re the in-laws.  

The rest of us are like the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota… our lives are messy, tangled up together, bumbling around, having fun and in each other’s business all the time.  Oh, the year this story takes place, we have, collectively, seventeen kids under the age of twelve.  

One of those kids was my newly-born son, so I was busy with diapers and nursing and ‘new mom narcolepsy’.  All that meant is that I was so fatigued every minute that I could, and often did, fall asleep mid conversation.  Pardon my drooling.  I have six kids, my thyroid just quit and my dog chewed another hole through the drywall.  Would you like to come to my house for your Thanksgiving celebration?  This would have been a great sacrifice for anyone, even without the gluten free part.  

My poor sisters in law.  They are both from families with much more decorum and manners.  The rest of the bumblers I didn’t worry about. They were used to adapting.  And besides, most of them are kids.  They won’t even care if there is no stuffing or bread or pumpkin pie.  

They have each other. 

And that, after all,  is the whole point of it.  Thanksgiving or any holiday…  the idea is to be thankful for each other.  It’s not about the turkey, or the particular recipes you cherish, or the traditions and china plates passed down through the generations.  It’s about being thankful for each other.  And that’s what my extended family did that year.  We let go of our expectations and our traditions, and we were glad that we had each other.  

Doug made a feast of roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, corn bread stuffing, all gluten free and delicious.  One brother and his wife brought cinnamon ice cream.  Another brother and his wife brought paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware, which meant no one had to do the dishes.  My sister made a mountain of veggies, freshly steamed and drizzled in butter and almonds.  Sixteen little kids had the time of their life, playing hide and seek in every nook and cranny of my house.  The dog ate scraps, cleaning the floor with great joy.  I sat on the couch with the baby, a fatigued but grateful beached whale, sleeping. 

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Picture
8 Comments
Ann Smith
11/25/2014 11:36:30 pm

What a picture you paint of what all of us need to be thankful for - family!! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you & may God bless!!

Reply
Michelle Mahnke link
11/28/2014 12:21:25 pm

Thank you Ann! Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you, too. Thankful for every minute. God bless you,

Michelle

Reply
Sonja Barta
11/26/2014 08:40:57 am

Happy turkey day to all of you!I know your big family and you all are so lucky to have each other.So keep doing what you are doing....nothing like the love of a family

Reply
Michelle Mahnke link
11/28/2014 12:22:34 pm

Thank you Sonja! And I hope you had a wonderful holiday, too. God bless you and your family.

Michelle

Reply
Lynn Petrauski
11/26/2014 09:02:37 pm

We have never met Michelle but I feel like I know you.
You are a loving, caring, a little bit crazy, just like your mom.(Patti)
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your entire family. :-)

Reply
Michelle Mahnke link
11/28/2014 12:26:09 pm

Thank you Lynn!
Thanks for reading the blog, and I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Yes; love, care, and a little bit crazy sums it all up well.
God bless,

Michelle

Reply
Kristi
11/30/2014 08:52:45 pm

I love reading each and every blog entry. As one of the sister in laws, I can assure you that there is nothing more fun than a Thanksgiving with our family- it's a great ball of twine. Besides my family this year spent Thanksgiving in an RV in Arkansas with a sick kid. Not exactly neat and tidy :) We missed all of you.

Reply
Michelle Mahnke link
12/3/2014 09:09:50 pm

Thank you Kristi! You now have a great story to tell about a cross-country trip! I think the neat and tidy trips are the ones we forget. But, having little experience with neat and tidy, I really wouldn't know! We missed you very much..

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Alzheimer's
    Art
    Birds
    Camping
    Cartoon
    Christmas
    Comic Books
    Craft
    Down Syndrome
    Family
    Flowers
    Food
    Gratitude
    Health
    Hope
    Joy
    Kids
    Kindness
    Love
    Mom
    Mud
    Oil
    Or Lack Of It
    Paint
    Peace
    Pets
    Photography
    PTSD
    School
    Sky
    Snow
    Spring
    Sunday Bouquet
    Sunrise
    Transplant
    Veterans
    Winter
    Work

    RSS Feed

    Love
    Joy
    Peace

    Found in the 
    small things...

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    July 2021
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

All content  © michellemahnke.com  2021