I have been racking my brain to think of something to write about. I'm hiding from relatives, see, and this is a justifiable reason to do so.

Yes, it's almost 10 p.m. and we still haven't eaten Thanksgiving dinner. It has to do with my sister-in-law eating two meals today (which, even on such a feast day, smacks of gluttony and future tummyaches), and the upshot is that there's still a batch of people in the kitchen, and then there's me sitting out in the living room, pretending to be Very Busy.

Help me out, Internets, what can I write about?

I know -- I will reprise last year's post and make it an annual tradition.

What am I thankful for?

• It seems obvious to say family, but just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's not true. I love you all, even if I am avoiding you.
  
• Mikko is walking. He loves it, and we're getting a kick out of it, too. He's got at least a dozen signs, and I love knowing what he's thinking. He's becoming his own little person, and it's thrilling to watch.
  
• I'm within 7,000 words of my NaNoWriMo finish, and I'm in the climactic, heart-stopping scene right now where the killer catches up with the heroine! I left in an exciting place specifically to motivate me to get back to it and finish up tonight.
  
• Just in general, I'm glad I'm feeling like me. I'm writing, I'm taking ballet classes again. I'm not just a mother, not that that's a bad thing to be -- I'm myself again now, too. Sometimes when I'm stretching during ballet, lengthening my back and smelling the leather of my slippers with my nose to my toes, I just feel so centered, so present, so myself. I'm grateful for that hour and a half away every week.
  
• Mrs. Pim the kitty is still a furry, well-cared-for little soul. Now that it's colder, she sits on our laps all the time again, demanding attention, as is her due.
  
• This is a today one, but I harvested a gazillion tomatoes today. Yes, on Thanksgiving! I love the Pacific Northwest. The red ones all went into the freezer to make sauce when we're feeling winter-bound, and the mature green ones I'm saving out to make green tomato salsa, after I can get to the grocery store again for the rest of the ingredients (read: everything but the green tomatoes). It sounds delightful, so I'll have to let you know if I screw it up.
  
• But, in good news, I got to cook tonight. I made the stuffed mushrooms. They're so easy to make that even a complete...well, even I can make them. But it went to feeling creative again. When we were first married, Sam and I traded off cooking more. I think I was trying to impress him with my wifeliness. Eventually, I felt secure enough to give up and let him at it, since he's so much better at the culinary arts. But now I think it's just laziness that I never take a turn. I forgot that it's fun.
  
• As Sam answered during our dinnertime questioning (yes, we finally ate), Obama. And then Sam continued that he's glad it's been a no-drama year. As much as we sometimes miss our pre-parenting lives of being able to travel and do a lot of events and museums and such (we tried to fit those things in during Mikko's first year and exhausted ourselves), this year has been a good quiet. We're still in our little cottage by the sea, still working from home, feeling stable and content. 
  

A very happy Thanksgiving to you.

Colorful corn photo courtesy of George Bosela on stock.xchng