Requisite Thanksgiving Post

Oh, I had big plans to write about something quirky and unusual and long, but that was before I fell asleep while putting the baby down (as soporific as the process usually is, it's twice that when preceded by a large meal of turkey). So, here goes nothing...

Today, I am thankful for:

• Good friends who have become family. We have had the past three? four? Thanksgivings with another family, one whose children refer to Tankbaby as their "little brother" and let us run amok in their house. This year had the potential to be tense and awkward, as the parents have separated, but they pulled off an almost entirely tension-free afternoon and evening together. If you'd been there, you would never have known.
• The fact that Tankbaby, when he throws a chubby arm over my shoulders at night, freaking patted me with soft, doughy pats. And then I died of cuteness.
• Pumpkin stuffed with everything good
• MOTH sending me a perfectly phrased text message in the middle of the afternoon, just when my head was starting to explode (I did say "almost" tension-free, you know; it actually wasn't so much about the soon-to-be-exes, but more about that inevitable moment where you realize that the food schedule is all off and your turkey is going to be done but you haven't even started the potatoes AAAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE. And I was trying to pass messages along about how to solve problems and everyone had different thoughts about what to do and I was all LET'S JUST HAVE PB&J SANDWICHES). The text started with "I love you and trust your judgment" and just helped me feel instantly better.
  
• Skype! We called my dad this morning and I just keep marveling at the Jetson-like technology that allows him to see his grandchild running around the house and babbling (at least until said grandchild tries to close the laptop lid, effectively ending the conversation).
• The fact that I still have a three-day weekend ahead of me. I believe the word I'm looking for is woot.
• The moment at dinner where the kids decided to tell us what they were thankful for and the 4-year-old said something like, "I'm thankful for my family and that you guys are our family too because I love you." It was a very "God bless us, every one" little moment and I totally, um, got something in my eye. Sniff.

Erk. Here's a weird and abrupt ending, but the little internet-connected-ness symbol in my toolbar keeps going on and off, which makes me feel like I oughta click "publish" now while the gettin's good. (What the hell does that mean, anyway? I've used it all my life, my mom used it, but...what? The getting is...good?) Anyway, hope you are all full up of love and stuffing. Happy, happy day.