We stayed up late on the eve of Thanksgiving watching “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and then we slept in on Thanksgiving morning, made a big breakfast, and watched “Miracle on 34th Street” while my mom’s beloved cornbread casserole baked in the oven. We enjoyed dinner with my in-laws, avoided the annual retail insanity, and Friday night we put up the Christmas tree and toasted each other with glasses of eggnog.

We talked about traditions, the ones we grew up with and the ones we hope to create in the coming years. We dream of someday having kids and a house big enough to host our family for the holidays and annual movie marathons and a real Christmas tree.

The whole weekend made me thankful for this life that we have now between. Everyone chooses differently – some wait a lot longer to get married than we did, some don’t, some never will. Same with choosing to have kids. We still want to wait a few years before we ‘start a family,’ and even though I often long for the days when we’ll have the kids and the house and the holiday traditions, I was thankful this Thanksgiving for this little, lovely life we’ve already started. I am thankful for our little one-bedroom apartment, the intimacy of just him and me and the sound of us munching on toast at breakfast, this memory we’ve made of Matt and Bethany : The Early Years.

What traditions do you enjoy at Thanksgiving and Christmas, whether you’re single, married, etc? What was the favorite part of your holiday weekend?

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