Thanksgiving has always been “my” holiday, I love seeing family ad friends around the table, I love the process of cooking and baking old favorites and experimenting with new things. Menu planning often includes sifting through a pile of Thanksgiving-themed cooking magazines looking for that special “something” my guests will enjoy. Not sure whether that is my own game of “can you top this?” or my drive to constantly make it interesting or better or more memorable. Regardless, it has been a part of my holiday rituals for a long time. My family knows well that sometimes my experiments are a hit, sometimes a swing and a miss. And my kids will also tell you, “enjoy it now because she’ll never make it again,” which is a pretty reliable truth.

Thanksgiving has also been a weekend long for us. We’ve had multiple meals with different combinations of family members and others and it is not unusual for us to see this be a three or four day entertaining extravaganza. Although I do confess that by Sunday night take out pizza is likely to be the only item on the menu!

This year, however, will be different. This year, for one of the few times I can remember, Thanksgiving is not happening around my dining room table. We’re heading to see our youngest son and his family, including their infant son. We’re happy to be with them, glad to save them the travel challenge (especially now) of this busy time of year, looking forward to being together.

It will be a lovely and simpler Thanksgiving this year. There will be just the five of us (and one is not yet ready to eat turkey!). We’ll have the traditional photo of the baby with the turkey (who is bigger?) and we’ll have a lovely meal. We’ll revel in the time with them and the time with a baby we cannot see often enough!

Part of me is feeling a little sense of loss that we won’t have more of our kids together, that we won’t see as many of the grandkids as we would like, that we won’t have the mix of families and friends that often gather. And part of me looks forward to a first Thanksgiving with this new baby, bringing him into the tradition of family and connection and love.

As I reflect on the approaching holiday, I realize that this holiday is, for me, not just about giving thanks,, not just about preparing a festive meal. It is about continuity, about extending a tradition from one generation to the next, about building enduring memories, about creating a foundation of love and family and connection that will carry forward. What do we have to share with those we love? Pure and simple, the contents of our full hearts.