This will be my last post until the New Year, and I want to say thank you. To all of my readers, and to my blogmates. To my friends and family. To people I know and to those that I don’t. To those that like me and those that have…well, let’s say the opposite viewpoint. I am grateful to every one of you. You have all taught me so much and enriched my life in so many ways. Thank you.
This coming Thursday I’ll be sitting at my Thanksgiving table with my husband (and closely attended by four cats and a dog because, well, food) and reflecting on all the wonderful, crazy, breathtaking experiences of 2024. Our traditional Thanksgiving dinner is simple. Roast turkey breast, Hasselbach potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, stuffing, ambrosia, and steamed asparagus. Dessert will be pumpkin pie. We’ll talk about crazy past Thanksgiving events. The time my dad smoked a turkey, and it was so cold only half the bird cooked. The time his uncle showed up in a new Corvette and the brakes failed. The hay bales in the barn stopped him. The time we invited neighbors to Thanksgiving dinner, they showed up with their second pitcher of something pink and very alcoholic, and passed out in their plates like synchronized divers. The fun, weird, wacky stuff that makes memories. Then we’ll talk about our plans for Christmas and the years ahead. After dinner, we’ll light the Christmas houses display that my husband inherited from his mother and we’ll watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles for the twentieth time.
What does this have to do with writing? Nothing and everything. It’s moments like these that fill the well and sometimes provide scene fodder.
What are your holiday traditions? Have any of your holidays been blessed with outlandish events? Will you dish?
Hope that all have a very wonderful holiday season, and for those who don’t celebrate, may the balance of 2024 bring all you desire.
Kait Carson writes the Hayden Kent Mysteries set in the Fabulous Florida Keys and is at work on a new mystery set in her adopted state of Maine. Her short fiction has been nationally published in True Romance, True Confessions, True Story, True Experience, and Woman’s World magazines, and in the Falchion Finalist Seventh Guppy Anthology Hook, Line, and Sinker. She is a former President of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime, a member of Sisters in Crime, Guppies, and of Sisters in Crime New England. Visit her website at www.kaitcarson.com. While you’re there, sign up for her newsletter and receive a yummy, authentic, key lime pie recipe.
Our "traditions" have morphed over the years, so I'm not sure you can even call them traditions anymore. But we'll be gathering at my brother and sister-in-law's home. It will be cozy. They've downsized their house, but the family has upsized.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the perfect way to spend the day.
DeleteJim, I was thinking the same thing!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Thanksgiving disaster is the poor soul who was expecting lots of family for a noon dinner, and set an alarm to get the huge turkey in the oven at 5 a.m. intending to go back to bed. She did so, but in her half-asleep state, managed to set the oven to "self-clean." Of course it incinerated. Big-box store rotisserie chicken and turkey breasts to the rescue.
ReplyDeleteOh, NO! That is hysterical. Was the fire department involved? What a perfect story.
DeleteYour Thanksgivings have the makings of great novels! I'm afraid ours are usually much more uneventful. I hate cooking, so I always find some family member to take us in for the holidays and reciprocate with...well, coarse as it may seem, cash toward the meal!
ReplyDeleteThat works, Lori!
DeleteWe're flexible about Thanksgiving because it's a moveable feast, but we always have a good time.
ReplyDeleteThat's the best, Margaret.
DeleteThe Thanksgiving holidays bring back so many happy memories, family gatherings. One in particular was about my uncle Franklin. He was retired from the Air Force and would fly all over the world on Air Force planesh going space available. We never knew where he would be from one week to another. If he wanted to fly to Germany, but there was only a plane going out to Korea, he would catch the plane to Korea and make his way back to Germany. But he always managed to show up for Thanksgiving, sometimes actually arriving on Thanksgiving day. It wasn’t Thanksgiving without uncle Franklin.
ReplyDeleteHappy crazy Thanksgiving.
ReplyDelete