Officially Our Favorite Family Holiday

I am here to announce that Thanksgiving is the winner of the Moore Family Favorite Holiday!  We won't ask the kids their opinion, though, because they are still of the mind that piles of gifts do a lot to make a holiday grand.  They may not knowingly concur that this is their favorite holiday, but their actions speak pretty loudly to me, and I just witnessed a brother/sister fist bump that melted my heart.

Why is this holiday so grand?  Well, we are a pastor's family.  Christmas is a lovely time of year, but the pastor dude himself is usually quite busy  Christmas Eve, in particular, is just plain lots of work.  Beautiful, inspiring work, but still work, with service after service.  Christmas morning comes early after midnight mass (11pm services, at our churches, mercifully).  Jon is usually tired.  We often drag him here or there or have a houseful of people over, but, Jon's usually ready for a long, winter's nap.  This year Christmas day is on a Sunday, so I'll let you guess what is on my husband's agenda.   We have invited my mother-in-law over for Christmas, but we had to tell her not to come until a few days after the big day.  It's sad, but true, that the week of Christmas is no time for company.

Easter is quite the same.  Have you seen the number of services that churches offer during Holy Week?  Most people pick and choose which to attend.  The pastors?  They are there for them all.  They even add extra sunrise services (3 at our church in 2012, I hear) to their schedules.  I never did figure out how to do the whole "Easter basket/hunt Easter eggs" thing that worked with his schedule and made it seem like the Easter bunny hadn't actually forgotten my eager children.  Usually, it was just something Jon was not a part of.

I am really not trying to complain.  My husband is a pastor.  He's a great pastor.  He meets those holiday challenges with new insight every year.  He does his thing and does it well.

It just means that those holidays are not always the best times for grand family events or full of relaxation in jammies or great times for travel.   Those are not able to be officially The Moore Family Favorite Holidays.

But Thanksgiving?  That's different, and we really noticed it this year.  Jon got Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday completely off!  That meant time for jammies.  Time for hot cocoa.  Time for board games.  Time for video games.  Time for family, friends, and food.  Time for naps.  Time for movies. Time to make our house festive.  Time for relaxed play for a brother and a sister.

I feel like a new woman.  I feel like we're a new family, stronger for our quiet days together.

I felt that the TV had been on a bit too much by yesterday, so we kept it off most of the day.  My kids created, played, and enjoyed each other like they hadn't in so long.  We spend so much time trying to create all sorts of meaningful experiences for them, but the rest, relaxation, and stepping back from it all that is Thanksgiving in this family is what brings them, and us, together.

Our December calendar fills up more each day.  There is so much to look forward to, things we will do together, things we will do with family and friends, and things we will do for those in need.  There will be special gifts to open, too.  I have no doubt it will be a wonderful holiday.  We will be ready to enjoy it all more fully because of our Thanksgiving.  For that we are thankful!