This morning (Wednesday; I always write these in the wee smalls of the night so my “today” will be your “yesterday” by the time you read this) Doug and I were sitting around and said, “Wow, can we just eat hotdogs tomorrow?” And then we felt horribly guilty because, of course, no matter how exhausted and burnt out we are, the kids are building the memories now that they’ll have for the rest of their lives. The reason we would love to skip Thanksgiving is because we have so many years of good ones to look back on; they’re filling that bank now and need us to give them the good memories so someday they can sit with their spouses and eat hotdogs on Thanksgiving.

So – we dragged our sorry bottoms to the car as soon as Doug’s work was done and by the time we stumbled in five hours later the kids were outfitted to the nines (pictures tomorrow!), we had a $3 centerpiece for the table, new throw pillows for the couches, and clean socks for the parents. The money makes me shudder, but I remember so well when I was growing up that my parents always managed, with eight kids and fifteen goats and four horses and sheep and chickens and rabbits and guinea pigs and I forget what else, and on a professor’s salary, to make holidays big deals for us, and they did it without complaining or even revealing what must have been some very difficult financial nail-biting. So today I am thankful for their example, and for a well-used credit card, and for TJ Maxx staying open until 9:30, and for the clearance rack at the Gap Outlet (which is like real Gap to the negative-third power, but they’ll still look adorable).

Tomorrow is a small Thanksgiving for us, because lots of siblings are away and my mom is helping my 94-year-old grandmother pack up her apartment and move to Florida. It’ll be my dad, us six, and four other sisters and one husband. A good chance to use the smaller serving dishes and bake a 12-lb turkey instead of our usual 25-lb one. The dogs will get to fight over the giblets and we’ll troop over to the college campus and try to get some nice pictures of the kids.

A happy Thanksgiving to you all, and may it be a day of good memories!