Giving Thanks, Dry Turkey or Not

So we survived PVT's Golfapalooza absence, with nary a puke or errant poop.  Woo hoo!  And now that holiday that kids just don't care about except they do get some school off, Thanksgiving.

I'm afraid I don't really care about Thanksgiving, either.  Yes, I am a very thankful girl.  Yes, it's nice to have a day off.  But if PVT and I had it our way, we (OK, OK, PVT) would just make his famous red sauce starting at 9am (this involves so many tomatoes my kitchen resembles the site of a particularly bloody homicide), and let it simmer all day long.  Meatballs would magically appear.  Cocktails would be poured around 11am. 

Now doesn't that sound like a better Thanksgiving than...dry turkey and mashed potatoes out of a box?

Ah, maybe someday.  When all those family elders become senile and don't care what day it is.

But, in the spirit of giving Thanks, here are a few of the things I'm thankful this year - besides, of course, my five healthy children, my roof, medical insurance, my own decent health despite years of drinking too much wine and Diet Mountain Dew, and my employed husband:

1.  That PVT did not yell when I purchased five $38 dollar ridiculously adorable personalized Christmas shirts from this very very dangerous website.

2.  That PVT did not even mention the Whole Foods charge that mysteriously appeared while he was gone (and, while I was careful to check prices, I did throw in a bottle of organic ketchup - that I later realized was $7.99.  Holy tomato paste!).

3.  Pre-mixed margaritas.

4.  The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills - for making me feel like a well-adjusted, sane individual.

5. Quiktrip - a clean convenience store with attractive, polite employees where you can buy a large French Vanilla Cappucino for $1.29 cannot be underrated.

6. Free shipping, free returns.  And no sales tax in Oklahoma.  Nordstrom may be far, far away, but there is a God. 

7.  That compared to some people ALREADY lining up for their Black Friday deals, I am a relative retail ascetic, a paragon of restraint.

8.  That Catholicism actually encourages consumption of alcohol.

9.  For Southwest Airlines - for getting my large brood back to Seattle efficiently and relatively cheaply. 

10.  For the million little things I take for granted each day living in our great U.S. of A.