The first Thanksgiving after I was married, I cooked dinner for my brother-in-law and my new husband. I was so excited and determined to put on a great feast. Everything that could possibly have gone wrong with that meal—did. The rolls never rose. The piecrust literally dripped off of the pan and onto the bottom of the oven. Having carefully secured cherished family recipes, I proceeded to make them as written even though they’d been intended for crowds of 10 to 12 people. There were just three of us, and as you can imagine a mountain of food—most of it with something desperately wrong.
And then as if it couldn’t possibly get worse, we poured the wine into our new crystal 
goblets and toasted our “feast”. My brother-in-law lifted the glass to his lips and promptly dripped wine on his shirt. We all laughed and then he did it again. This time much worse. And it was then that we realized that it wasn’t my brother-in-law, it was the glass—the beautiful Waterford glass. The glass had been cut through in several places, making it probably one of the world’s most expensive dribble glasses.
That was over twenty years ago, and I have since learned to make Thanksgiving dinner in proper proportion. Everything usually comes out as it’s supposed to be. And none of the crystal dribbles wine on anyone. Much more civilized, but I will always remember that first Thanksgiving with fondness. My brother-in-law is probably just glad we exchanged the glass.
This is the time of year, as we gear up for the holiday season, to stop and remember all the wonderful things we have in our lives. No matter how challenging things may be, there’s always something to be grateful for. We just have to stop long enough to look around and see it.
Here’s wishing you and yours a magnificent Thanksgiving with your family and friends!