It's Turkey time again. Time to be thankful, reflect, and fight over the drumsticks at the dinner table. It's also the time that we all ask our host or hostess:
“Just yourself,” comes the response.
I take that request to heart, but I can’t resist bring a few un-asked for things. Don't listen to the hostess. Listen to me.
FIVE THINGS TO BRING:
1) Yourself. Seriously. Don't bring an entourage and take a tip from the turkey: stuff your baggage.
2) A camera. Not a phone, a tablet, a computer, or any multi-tasking electronic thing. Bring an old-fashioned camera, point it at people and remember why you are taking their picture. Hint: it is because you love and want to remember them in a special way. Make them smile, catch them in a kiss, or the cook in the kitchen. Have copies and send them around with handwritten notes.
3) No one can resist a covered dish, so bring one. Your dish doesn't have to be filled with food. Put something fun inside: wax lips from the party store, crayons and paper, candy, pictures from Thanksgiving pasts. Leave the dish with the hostess.
4) Bring your curiosity. Don't just nod to those friends and relatives you see once a year before making a beeline for the couch. Ask everyone at least one a question. You'll be amazed how interested they will be in you when they know that you are interested in them. Caution: trying this on teenagers can be tough but hang in there. They are bound to speak eventually.
5) Gratitude. You don't have to serve it up like thick gravy, just take a second and acknowledge your good fortune. Come on, there will be at least one thing to be grateful for and probably a baker's dozen once you get started. I venture to say that someone around the table might just be putting you on their gratitude list.
Have an awesome Thanksgiving and let me know what you decide to put in that covered dish.
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