On the good front, we went to the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade. This was my first time ever, my wife Janet used to go as a kid but hadn't been for many years. With our two little girls in tow we trecked out to enjoy it.
Like most family events, this was a Janet-driven idea. I'm always reluctant to put the initial effort in for new things. This is crazy, because invariably I love the outcome and enjoy the event. This is a great example of that. Here's some pics from our parade day:
On the bad side was the actual dinner event. Last year was a tough time for Janet's side of the family, and we took care of dinner. By take care I mean we ordered a fully catered Thanksgiving dinner from Pronto. It was delicious and I think the right choice for the time. But this year the family decided to cater again from a different restaurant, and that decision sucked a lot of the joy and soul out of the evening. This is a family that already has a hard time connecting and having fun together over a meal; without the camaraderie and shared experiences around preparing a holiday dinner, there wasn't much else pulling the event together.
For me, icing on the event was when Emerson announced (unprompted) right before digging in that she had an idea. Her thought - "everyone should say what they are thankful for!" She went first ("her whole family"), Janet said something, Janet's dad said something, I said something, and then we opened it to the rest of the family.
*chirp* *chirp* *chirp*
No one else had a single thing to share. After a few silent and uncomfortable seconds we glossed over it, Janet and I made a fuss over Emerson, and sat down to eat.
We ate at the side table - just Janet, me, and the two kids. Everyone else sat at the other table and there was no movement or even pretending anyone else would join the Republic of Hughes. At one point I was sitting alone at this foldup chair while Averie wandered about elsewhere and Emerson and Janet were in the bathroom or something, and that was the point when it struck me how sad and cold this Thanksgiving was for me.
We ate at the side table - just Janet, me, and the two kids. Everyone else sat at the other table and there was no movement or even pretending anyone else would join the Republic of Hughes. At one point I was sitting alone at this foldup chair while Averie wandered about elsewhere and Emerson and Janet were in the bathroom or something, and that was the point when it struck me how sad and cold this Thanksgiving was for me.
Before pie I'd already decided that Thanksgiving Redux I was in order. I started planning...
