Don’t you just want to smack them?  Their whole Christmas dinner is probably served on a bed of lettuce and followed by yoga.  You can be guaranteed that whatever is in that glass is diet and that man is not considering unbuttoning his pants.  They are having a ridiculously healthful Christmas.

That is what I’m going to have, and I will try to make the best of it.  I’m Celiac and allergic to milk and soy.  My son is just like me.  That leaves us very little traditional holiday fare.  No stuffing.  No pie.  No chocolates.  No egg nog.  No Butterball turkey…. The list goes on. I’ve never had figgy pudding, but I’m pretty confident it would kill me.   So what will we have?  Glad you asked!

This year, we are going to have a typically Nithemuka Christmas dinner.  I bought a chicken (because we just don’t have enough people to eat up a big turkey. )  I am going to make roast potatoes, yams, and veggies.  Desert was the hardest part.  What on earth could I serve that everyone could eat?  (And by everyone, I mean myself.  )  So I settled on a big fruit salad.  There will be mango, raspberries, peaches and orange slices.  Delicious!  And at the end of all the eating, I will not be ill and deeply regretting whatever passed my lips.  That night, I won’t be up all night with a sick child.  Merry Christmas to us!

While my Christmas dinner will be ridiculously healthful, I promise not to serve it on a bed of lettuce.  I furthermore guarantee that someone will have to undo a button!

With Thanksgiving coming on (in Canada, at least), I am focused on getting a proper Thanksgiving meal put together.  “Proper” is relative, though, since my husband and I are vegetarians this month and one more turkery will live because of us.  Also, we are having my sister-in-law come for her very first Thanksgiving in Canada!  She’s just great, and I like her immensely.  This means that I’m also concerned about her LIKING the meal I prepare.  Some things we eat are a bit of an acquired taste.  Like pumpkin pie.  So my “proper” Thanksgiving meal will consist of no meat, no pumpkin pie, and a sincere hope that the rest of the trimmings won’t leave my in-laws confused and politely chewing for a really, really long time. 

Thanksgiving.  I love this time of year!  I love the fall, the crunchy leaves, the crisp air… I love sweaters and jeans, hiking boots and getting the tip of my nose all chilly.  I also love that my birthday is coming up and I can look forward to cake for a whole different reason!  Cake factors into my happiness a lot. 

So I decided that I should list the things I am thankful for.  It’s good for the psyche.  It keeps you optimistic.  So here goes:

1.  My sweet, adoring husband who puts up with a rather fiesty, creative wife.

2.  My gorgeous little boy with cheeks that just beg to be kissed.

3.  My family who are the most unique group of people imaginable, but will make a very good novel one day.

4.  My in-laws who regularly baffle me, but who make me into a better woman.

5.  My writing–the fact that people publish me!  The luxury of being able to stay home and pursue my artistic career…  Late nights working on freelance projects…  Blogging for my four regular readers.:)  Writing novel after novel and never getting bored of it…

6.  Canada.  I’m thankful for democracy, even though voting annoys me.  I’m thankful for our cold winters that kill bugs before they get too big, and our health care that means after a difficult pregnancy and childbirth, we are not going bankrupt. 

7.  My church–another interesting group of people who just make me happy.  It’s definitely something thank-worthy to have an entire group of people that I make me feel all warm and cozy.

8.  Health–God grants it, and I generally take it for granted.  But I am thankful that I’m healthy and strong, able to write crazy long hours and then be up every two hours over night with my son… 

9.  The bucket that my son loves so much and keeps him marvellously entertained while I do dishes, or cook, or sweep the floor…  whatever needs my two hands to be able to perform.

Those are the basics.  I could go on, but you might get bored with the minutia. There is my new pair of jeans that makes me look thin (and after having a baby, that is not a frivolous shout out.)  There is the fact that in two days I’m going to be able to eat a big ol’ pile of stuffing.  I’m thankful for long walks, Alberta skies, our loyal little car that just goes and goes…  I’m thankful for long distance calls to my mom, those hurried little calls my husband makes home during his breaks at work just to say he loves me, and the way my son likes to hold the phone when I talk to people on speaker…

There are a million little things.  I’m thankful.  I’m thankful for the people in my life and the relative luxury I live in.  I’m thankful for people who are willing to come to eat a Thanksgiving meal with my husband and I, cram around our little Ikea table and experience the great North American tradition of overeating and laughing together.  I’m thankful that God gave me this beautiful, unpredictable life, and this quirky, loveable family.   

My son has a book his grandpa sent him. It was the grace my father’s family used to say around the table, and we have decided to carry on the tradition with our boy, too…  It goes like this: 

“Thank you for the world so sweet.  Thank you for the food we eat.  Thank you for the birds that sing.  Thank you, God, for everything!  Amen.”

And then Jr. gets a nice big bite of something blended and gooey and good…