Well, my first Thanksgiving since The Fall went off without a hitch. It'll take a while to get used to spending the holidays without a complete family unit, but I think me and Mini-Me did alright. I made two stuffed cornish hens, yams, baked mac and cheese, collard greens, ham steak and a sweet potato pie. Three hours, I cooked. Three hours, and all my daughter wanted was the marshmallow topping on the yams. Oh, and "I want the macaroni in the refrigerator!" She was talking about the leftover Kraft from two days ago. I just scooped her up in my arms and kept whispering "I love you" over and over until I believed it again.
This whole week has been a learning opportunity. I realized that my idea of family and holidays will never actually materialize...and that's not a bad thing. The vision that I had in my head for Thanksgiving was very picturesque, very cliche and very stale. The two of us would sit at the table with hands folded and talk about what we were thankful for. She'd say something adorable like toys or candy, and I'd laugh. The 80s sitcom music would play as I told her that I was thankful for her. We'd embrace. The credits would roll.
Instead, I said "Come sit down" so much that I woke up saying it in the middle of the night. I watched her run away from the table screaming, "I'm late for school!" before putting her foot on top of a sheet of paper on the floor and pretending to skateboard away while hanging on to the back of the chair/car a la "Back to the Future."
After giving up on getting her to eat, we put up the Christmas tree. Again, reality trumped expectation. I couldn't even put the tree together because as I sat on the floor she kept creeping up behind me like a lion or something before leaping onto my back. I eventually put it up, and you can tell her contribution just by looking: All of her ornaments are bunched together 3 feet off the ground.
Finally, our very Brady Christmas photo was photobombed by her. I bought a santa hat for myself and an elf hat for her. Forty-seven pics, and every single one has her making a crazy face. The final one when I decided to just let go is the one I'll hang up: Both of us screaming at the camera with our tongues out. There's a fake Target tree in the background leaning to the right because someone tried to climb it.
I think these are much better memories than the preprogrammed ones I had in my head.
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