Aging with Grace

Sharing the holiday with other people, and feeling that you’re giving of yourself, gets you past all the commercialism.

Caroline Kennedy

Tomorrow, in the United States, we are celebrating Thanksgiving. A holiday that has become about families gathering together to eat lots of food, watch football and hopefully, take a minute to be thankful for all that we are given. We are a very small family. Generally there were only three or four of us around the Thanksgiving table. Sometimes my great uncle would join us. Sometimes we would go out for dinner. It was always a low-key celebration.

After I had a family of my own, I worked to make the holiday festive. We are still a small family, but sometimes we invite friends and family to join us for dinner. I decorate the house, set the table with crystal and my grandmother’s silver, have a special menu which includes food we only eat once a year. 

Holidays have always been a time to celebrate friends and family, for me. I enjoy the process of decorating, cooking, shopping and writing cards. I am one of those dinosaurs who still send cards to friends and family, not just for Christmas, but birthdays and other occasions. My mother and grandmother did the same. I enjoy standing at the card counter looking for just the right card. Yes, I know you can argue that a email or tweet is the same. It’s really not. There’s something special about receiving a card in the mail with handwriting you recognize and opening it to find a special message that is meant just for you.