Thanksgiving

I’m sitting here reflecting on Thanksgiving after eating another round of leftovers. Its always good to see family and eat till I have to unbutton my pants or loosen the belt on my dress. Yesterday I had two different types of pie, two different types of turkey, and about 15 different side items. When you have two families to visit, the variety is abundant. I thank God all the time that I have awesome Bonus Parents, one of whom also has awesome Bonus Parents. (We try not to use the term “Step-kid” or “Step-parent.” Too many movies and fairy tales and bratty kids have ruined that term.)

The kids and I talk pretty frequently about them having alot of family. Whenever The Boy asks why he has three parents instead of just two I remind him that some people only get two parents to love them and that he is extra special because he has three. I know because I have four parents who love me. (Crazy Eyes hasn’t gotten to the point where she cares yet, she just knows that she gets lots of presents for Christmas and is totally okay with it.)

On the surface, it sounds wrong to be thankful for broken relationships but I love my family in its current state. If you’d told 18 year old me that my parents getting divorced was going to fill my life with so much love I would have probably thrown something at you. If you’d told 20ish year old me that I’d fall in love with a man who brought with him two crazy amazing kids I would have laughed in your face. Its good to be wrong sometimes. My newly forming family is surrounded by generations of love and support that I could never have fathomed. They have 3 siblings, 1 Uncle, 6 Grandparents, 7 Great-Grandparents, and about a thousand Great Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. That doesn’t even include The Boy and Crazy Eyes’ Mom’s side of the family. How insane is that?! If you put all of us together we could be our own village. (And thank goodness we could since we have so many kids haha!)

I could not have survived this year without my crazy, awesome, huge family. I quite literally would have gone insane (or at least moved from riding the crazy train to driving it). So this year I’m thankful for turkey, pie, and my family. I’ll go back to thinking that they are all bonkers soon enough but for now I’ll continue to bask in the afterglow that comes with the turkey coma.