The material presented
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My mom thinks I should travel the Gorge (icky drive, icky weather, long too) in order to have Thanksgiving down there. No thanks. Last year I decided to do it the way I wanted to. Simple eh? I will cook a turkey covered with bacon; mashed potatoes with butter and cream cheese (no milk); gravy with lots of mushrooms; stuffing with mushrooms, onions, the turkey neck meat, and NO CELERY (there might be a little bread in there....); a dish of olives, pickles and cranberry sauce; and for dessert, chocolate cream pie. I may have a few brussel sprouts, maybe some green salad, haven't decided that yet, but no yams, can't stand em, never could.
Point being folks, I am 51 years young and have decided that the holidays, MY holidays, will be MY way. I will do what I want the way I want and let anyone who wants to join in, join in. But they are MY holidays. I am tired of doing them to please someone else.
How many holidays are you going to spend doing them for someone else? NOT doing what you want in order to try (emphasis on the word TRY) to make someone else happy????
Before ex-ah, the holidays, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Fourth of July, were done to please the only people in my life that mattered - me and my daughter. I have reclaimed them for US! I no longer dread them - wonderful eh???
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I am strong in the broken places. ~ Unknown
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another! ~ Anatole France
I love your post thank you for the share. I'm all about staying home for the holidays and I'm grateful for vising family and whatnot however I'm with you, do your holidays and love them!! Enjoy and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
Hugs P :)
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Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.- Maya Angelo
@amills for me excercise just helps me work out any tensions and generally helps improve my overall outlook!!! A hot yoga class sounds like a wonderful start to the day!!!
Love this post likemyheart! I am cooking the day after Thanksgiving and making yams with marshmellows melted on top (yes I love them), turkey in the oven bag (makes it so moist), mashed potatoes with butter and milk, stuffing with sage, celery, bread and onion (ick, but my 13 yr old loves it), gravy, cranberry sauce and rolls with home made cheese cake topped with strawberries for dessert. Yummm, I mixed 2 families receipe's into my own tradtition here and it will be a great day! I am sending you love and support on your jouney!
-- Edited by Breakingfree on Wednesday 23rd of November 2011 11:17:12 AM
__________________
Sending you love and support on your journey always! BreakingFree
Al-Anon/Alateen Family Group Headquarters, Inc. 800-344-2666
" Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional."
"Serenity is when your body and mind are in the same place."
Love this post likemyheart! I am cooking the day after Thanksgiving and making yams with marshmellows melted on top (yes I love them), turkey in the oven bag (makes it so moist), mashed potatoes with butter and milk, stuffing with sage, celery, bread and onion (ick, but my 13 yr old loves it), gravy, cranberry sauce and rolls with home made cheese cake topped with strawberries for dessert. Yummm, I mixed 2 families receipe's into my own tradtition here and it will be a great day! I am sending you love and support on your jouney!
-- Edited by Breakingfree on Wednesday 23rd of November 2011 11:17:12 AM
I would like to add that I am no longer affected by others' yam intake. I learned I am powerless over yams through the Yamanon board and F2F Yamanon meetings.
This is great! Likemyheart, I think you helped inspire my decision not to travel long wintery roads to spend the holiday with my parents out of a feeling of obligation rather than what I really want and need to do this year. It IS important to do what we love and not make the holidays something to dread.
However, I happen to love YAMS! You guys cracked me up about the yams - especially pinkchip! No longer affected by others' yam intake? Haha! Well you guys don't have to like yams. That is your business. I still love em. I am or am not going to eat yams, what are you going to do?! ;)
Happy Thanksgiving to you! I love what you are serving. It sounds like you are cooking a feast for kings.
For me I am so grateful that I have a relationship with my mother. It is a new one only about 3 years old. This year she booked a ticket to see me and is staying for 8 days. I assure you it is nothing short of a miracle. There was a span of about 10 years where we did not see each other. During that time, the usual obligational birthday and mothers day phone call was so ackward and uncomfortable that I could not wait until I got off the phone with her.
Working the steps in Alanon with my sponsor gave me a framework for which I was able to dump the garbage of my past and start from a new beginning. The process of forgiveness and gratitude set in that I have a chance to start over and get to know her. Now that all the resentments I have of her are gone, I have discovered that she is a really neat lady. It is fun to be around her and cook with her for Thanksgiving which we celebrated last night.
I am grateful for a new beginning. I hope to have many Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays in which we can build traditions and memories and make up for the years which were lost.
Oh man I laughed so hard over Pinkchip and the whole yams thing. I love the Spirit in this family group and I love that we all are sharing such different Thanksgiving traditions and trying to be true to ourselves. I will be eating yams, oh yes I will! Why don't I make them other times of the year is the question!
I can relate to tommyecat and am going to see my Mom after Thanksgiving and fly home and just enjoy her after all these years and accept her right where she is at. Happy Thanksgiving all!
-- Edited by Breakingfree on Thursday 24th of November 2011 01:01:13 PM
__________________
Sending you love and support on your journey always! BreakingFree
Al-Anon/Alateen Family Group Headquarters, Inc. 800-344-2666
" Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional."
"Serenity is when your body and mind are in the same place."
LOL Yams! What really cracks me up about them is how some people who like them work very hard at trying to convince me how good they are - oh you've never tried these, they are delicious, just eat some, you'll see (hmmm, maybe they were the inspiriation for Green Eggs and Ham??)
Don't get me wrong, I would go to the family gathering, make just one dish to contribute and enjoy myself - my family when they get together can be a lot of fun, we usually spend a lot of time re-laughing about our childhood, we all have goofy sense of humor and we get to laughing so hard we hurt - but - the 2 hour drive there in heavy traffic, any bad weather making it even worse and the longer 2 hour drive back home in the dark on usually icy slick freeway with people going too fast because THEY want to get home - and I don't love driving in the dark, not because of the dark but those headlights coming at me, fog lights and who invented the bright blue lights????
Be safe all of you, eat a lot, lay around lamenting eating so much and then get up and get some more - drive safe those that drive, enjoy yourself and have a happy turkey day!
__________________
I am strong in the broken places. ~ Unknown
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another! ~ Anatole France
