Perfectly Imperfect

by Judy

Ready or not, the holiday season is upon us.  As we all know, this month in the U.S., we celebrate our Thanksgiving holiday.  Then soon after, people everywhere will be celebrating Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, and the list goes on.

There's always so much pressure to have the perfect day.  Like a Hallmark card - all warm and fuzzy with a perfectly roasted turkey at the center of the table, and the perfect family sitting around that table smiling lovingly. 

For some, that is exactly how the day goes.  For others - for many - family holidays more closely resemble Hallmark's Maxine. 

Maybe there's a family member who's estranged from the family, or there's someone who always drinks too much and ruins the day.  Maybe you're away from those you love, or your oven fizzled out in the middle of roasting your turkey.  Insert your family "issue" here: ___________.  It's not always perfect, but if we remember to focus on all of the things to be grateful for, you can find many reasons to celebrate your own perfectly imperfect version of that day.

My first time making Thanksgiving dinner was less than one month after my wedding day - many years ago now.  We were married one day and moved 1000 miles away the next day, so we were on our own for that Thanksgiving.  That was OK. I thought it would be romantic - newlyweds, our first big holiday as husband and wife. It would be perfect.... you see where I'm going with this don't you? 

First I bought a small frozen turkey that I failed to defrost enough before trying to roast it.  It was tiny, I thought one day of defrosting would be enough!  It was one of those turkeys that had the plastic bags of "turkey parts" inside of it.  I knew they were there.  I had seen my Dad reaching into our large Thanksgiving turkeys and removing two plastic bags.  So I reached in, I dug around, I found one plastic bag and removed it.  I reached in again to find the second bag and was surprised that there was only one.  Ok, no problem - it was a small turkey, maybe they only have one bag of "parts" in a small turkey.

I made a couple small side dishes to go with our roasting turkey. Oh it smelled so good in the oven as it cooked.  When everything was done, the turkey was plated and we sat down at our tiny kitchen table in our tiny little house, just the two of us, newlyweds - our first Thanksgiving.  And I was so proud that I'd made an entire Thanksgiving meal all by myself.

It was then that I realized that the only sharp knife that had arrived with our  belongings was a small paring knife.  Not the best choice for carving a turkey, but we can deal with that.  My husband began to "carve" it and was not having much luck.  I thought that I'd be able to do a better job since I had "knife skills" that he really didn't at the time.  We ended up hacking our way through this poor turkey - no beautifully carved slices for us.   And, lo and behold, part way through the "hacking" my new husband said, "what's this plastic?"  Oh Gee.  There was the second bag of "parts" that I had searched for.  It was in there after all.  I had just roasted the turkey with plastic inside of it.  Hmmmm. Now what?  Well, we hacked off a couple of pieces from the opposite side of the turkey and ate it.  (like maybe that side wouldn't be toxic? )

Needless to say, it wasn't the perfect first Thanksgiving that I had hoped for.  But that was OK.  We were together.  We were sitting in our warm house, starting our new married life.  We had so much promise ahead of us.  Not to mention that the side dishes came out great, and there was plenty of wine!  

Family holidays always remind me of something my Mom says.  "We may not be perfect, but we sure know how to have fun!"  That's my Mom's way of dealing with all of the imperfections that may surface when family comes together - she is able to find all of the little things that she is grateful for that make the day just right!

I hope you are able to focus on gratitude this holiday season, so whether your family holidays resemble the perfect Hallmark card, or Hallmark's Maxine, you will still have a wonderfully imperfect perfect holiday. 

Do you have any holiday mess ups to share with us? Why don't you put a smile on all of our faces and share your stories here, or on our Facebook page?  We can all find gratitude in knowing that it isn't just us! (or just ME!)