Well another Thanksgiving has come and gone and our family is learning each year how to make them fit our family better then the previous one.

Here are the things we have learned:

• Kids are going to eat familiar foods
• We are going to avoid BIG get togethers
• The big meal is best at lunchtime
• Chocolate pie is still pie

Eat Familiar Foods

Thanksgiving is a family holiday, not a day to force new foods on kids, people with special needs, or really on anyone. If a new food looks enticing and someone wants to try it- great! But no one should be bullying anyone into tasting things they don’t want to.

So I asked Mr. L what he was going to eat for thanksgiving this year and he told me carrots and chocolate pie. Cool. My sister and her kids stayed with us this year and most of her kids had corn, rolls, and pie. Also cool. My daughter had turkey and my other son had a little bit of all the traditional stuff.

I mean if we are asking adults during the planning part of the meal what they want to eat, why can’t kids have a say too? They are people too. Sure, as adults it’s our responsibility to introduce new foods, encourage responsible eating habits and to keep the focus on healthy food choices. Sorry, I’m probably not going to just service candy for dinner. But carrots? Corn? Why not?

Thanksgiving at our house means spending time with loved ones and enjoying each other’s company. Not teasing, gaslighting, forcing ideals on others, asking rude questions or apparently green bean casserole… Sorry for the disappointment.

Avoiding Big get Togethers

In the past we have been blessed to be invited to big holiday parties. I mean who doesn’t want to be invited? But we usually ended up hanging out in the attic or hiding in the laundry room. There have been distant relatives connected to us by marriage asking why we were the way we were… Which honestly begs the question, why do they care? We aren’t going to probably ever see each other again, and we aren’t hurting anyone.

We’ve also had “friends of friends” ask what’s wrong with Mr. L, and the answer is nothing. Nothing is ‘wrong’ with my son, the problem is that these stranger are wrong for making terrible assumptions. Long story short- these theories of a good time don’t align with our holiday family standards.

Instead we host at our place, invite those we trust to be understanding and kind to our children and don’t hide in laundry rooms.

Best at Lunchtime

This one isn’t a hard rule. But let’s be real, the cooking food is supposed to smell good and it will make the kids want to snack. I let the kids snack, especially on the holiday food. It’s a holiday remember? So to avoid snacking all day on the rolls and desserts… We just get the party started by lunchtime.

Chocolate Pie

From what I’ve gathered, the big 3 pies for this Fall holiday around here are; pumpkin, apple and pecan pie. I’ve got pumpkin lovers, I enjoy an apple one from time to time and no one here will touch the third one mentioned above.

But here’s the thing, Mr. L has learned that he is supposed to eat pie during this get together from school and he didn’t like any of those. So I picked up a chocolate one and all the kids loved it.

And besides, every year Mr. L surprises us with what he ends up actually eating and after everything had settled down and lunch was over, this kiddo eased himself back into the kitchen, grabbed himself a slice of pumpkin pie, gave it some whipped cream and ate that too! Previous years he would have taken the slice for traditions sake, scrapped off the cream and tossed the rest. It was a Thanksgiving miracle to see him cut himself a slice and eat it too!

How was your thanksgiving this year?