Festive eating and Gratitude

Micro (23 mos) and Micron (1.5 mos) 

 

For Thanksgiving, a holiday not celebrated in the Philippines, my family usually prepares a Filipino feast, lightly sprinkled with very few "traditional Thanksgiving food." However, in the past few years, my younger sister has insisted and encouraged our family to prepare a more traditional feast. Yet no matter how much she tries, it's impossible not to include some filipino comfort food during the holidays. I see her point in wanting to celebrate the way others do, but there's something also to be said for creating traditional festive food of our culture--besides, we're thankful for that too.

And since my children are biracial, I want them to celebrate that. What better way than to do it with food. So this year, we will be having turkey (Deep-fried thank you. You know us Filipino's love it that way), pumpkin and pecan pie, garlic mashed potatoes, spicy cranberry sauce, along with, kalderetta, a pancit of some sort, and perhaps a few other filipino dishes. I'll tell you this much, I'm grateful that we're blessed to have this abundance of food during difficult times.

And being a mother has made me appreciate the holiday season in a way I haven't in a long time; seeing it through a child's eye. Things that had lost its' meaning or 'luster', like Christmas pageants, the wonder of Christmas trees, even "holiday shopping," is now more fun and meaningful. There's no lying to myself when it comes to the stress of the holiday season. I dread mall shopping (especially pushing a double stroller around), but having a peppermint mocha or salted hot chocolate never hurts. I don't enjoy the long lines, but appreciate the deep discounts.

I will remind myself the true meaning of the holiday season is to celebrate one another, the love shared among friends and family, and thanking God for being born into this world and all that he's blessed us with.

After all, we should be giving thanks to God and those we love everyday anyway, we don't need a holiday to commemorate it really. So put some attitude into that gratitude.