Celebrating Good With New York Life
If Thanksgiving is the best thing ever then Friendsgiving is the bester thing ever. I often joke (not so jokingly) that I collect awesome people. 40 or so of those awesome people gather together at my home the Sunday after Thanksgiving for a feast and a celebration of thanks. We’re thankful for each other. We’re thankful for the good that has happened to us all during the past year. Most of all, we’re thankful for a chance to gather around the kitchen island and just be.
Thanksgiving is for celebrating good with the family you were born into or married into.
Friendsgiving is for celebrating good with the family you’ve chosen.
There are a lot of things about Friendsgiving that make it the bester, but here are top 5 reasons I look forward to it more than any other holiday.
1. The food is AAAAAMAZING. One of my awesome people is a professional chef, so she is in charge of the critical menu items. The rest of us focus on making what we excel at making. For some, that’s a dessert that is to die for or maybe an appetizer that delights. Others specialize in making sure the plates and napkins are plentiful. In the end, we wind up with a menu that will leave you dreaming of surgically implanting a third or fourth stomach because there is never enough room to enjoy it all.
The most important part, though, is that no one judges any of it. Grandma Norma isn’t there to make a sour face when she discovers there is goat cheese in the mashed potatoes.
2. The company is really good at picking the right conversations. While Friendsgiving is spent with the people you trust the most, you don’t have to worry about the conversations veering into those delicate areas. There aren’t any questions about when you’re going to have another baby or when are you going to get married or any of that stuff.
Your friends know that you are incredibly grateful for that baby in the family room, even if she did show up a bit later than ideal. They won’t poke at that sore spot. In fact, they’re celebrating that new life every bit as much as you are.
3. Your kids are truly free to be who they are. You are gathered with the people who are in the trenches of parenthood with you. They are the people you text when the baby is screaming, the dog is barking, the toddler is climbing the walls, and your husband is hiding in the garage “working” on something. They understand your frustrations and they know kids aren’t perfect because they are living the same wonderfully imperfect life.
Aunt Marcia might shoot you the side eye when your toddler flings mashed potatoes on the ceiling. At Friendsgiving, the conversation will be about appreciation that the mashed potatoes match the ceiling’s paint color.
4. Speaking of kids, I don’t have to wonder what they’re doing or where they are because they are also with some of their favorite friends. Alexis positively adores her multitude of cousins and enjoys every minute with them, but it is different than when she hangs out with kids she has considered besties since she was born. She sees them more and knows them better, and so do I. Everyone is comfortable and happy. If things get out of hand, there is no doubt that one of the moms will say the just right words to send the situation in the right direction. And nobody will be offended.
5. There is no expectation of a Pinterest-perfect celebration. When my crew gathers together at my home, the focus is on the food and the conversation. Nobody judges the ring of mildew in the toilet or the cat fur tumbleweed under the table. They don’t care that we’re using paper plates and plastic forks. Together is what matters.
Happy Holidays, y’all. I hope you get an opportunity to spend a day celebrating good, be it Friendsgiving or any other random day of the year.
I’m partnering with New York Life to Keep Good Going and we need your help. New York Life is donating 25 meals to Feeding America for every tweet that includes #KeepGoodGoing and #FeedingAMillion. Tweet about your favorite holiday tradition or memory using the hashtags and you’ll trigger that donation. 25 meals for just one tweet. You can also visit New York Life’s website to see ways others are celebrating the good in their lives and upload your own photo to share with others. (Through 1/9/15, New York Life will donate $2.50 for each approved post, with a minimum of $25K & a maximum of $100K. See full terms and conditions at NewYorkLife.com/CelebratingGood. Find info about Feeding America at feedingamerica.org.
As a thank you for Celebrating Good, I have a $50 Visa Gift card and a $50 donation on behalf of BlogHer in the winner’s name to Feeding America up for grabs. Just leave a comment below telling me your favorite holiday tradition and you will be entered to win.
Sweepstakes Rules:
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You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
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This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
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This sweepstakes runs from 12/1/2014 – 12/31/2014.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Reader Comments (177)
My dad's side of the family gets together every year. It's really the only time of year all of the cousins see each other any more so I look forward to it every year!
My family does Secret Santa to cut costs (and excessive gift-giving) and we always pick names during Thanksgiving. It is one of the only constants that happens every year no matter where we are.
I always loved going to my Aunt's house on Christmas eve.
Your Friendsgiving celebration looks fun! Good friends are important to have. :)
making cookies!
My husband slow roasts the turkey so he gets up at 4:30 to put it in the oven and then it smells delicious for the next seven hours or so - the recipe involves a lot of butter. I also love baking treats for my coworkers, volunteering with church, and designing the calendars I send the grandparents with pictures of the girls for every month. There is so much to be thankful for during the holidays.
Well we do bug one person about babies and marriage on occasion.
Favorite tradition - a few years ago we started staying home on Christmas Day. The kids get to spend the day in their pjs playing with their presents. No dressing up and running around to other houses. The Grandparents come to us instead. Unfortunately company requires me to change out of my pjs...
I love decorating the Christmas tree with my kids.
tweet--https://twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/539574885349990400
Some of my favorite traditions are just getting together with family I haven't seen in ages. Despite saying that, I agree with this post in that getting together with friends that are on the same page as you is magical and stress relieving!
To list a specific tradition in the spirit of the sweepstakes prompt: I love driving around with my kids on Christmas Eve, looking at neighborhood holiday lights, then after they are in bed, putting on a favorite holiday movie with my wife while we either relax and enjoy one another's company, or hurriedly finish wrapping Christmas gifts for the next morning. :-)
Tweet tweet! https://twitter.com/davidpryke2/status/539589702580723712
My favorite tradition is baking cookies and sharing them with friends and family members
https://twitter.com/ElenaIstomina/status/539600891024654336
My families favorite holiday tradition is gathering toys to donate to toys for tots every year.
Posted to Twitter - https://twitter.com/lil_lady_dz/status/539607914055344128
Favorite holiday tradition is probably saying what we're thankful for on Thanksgiving. Or donating to charity instead of giving gifts to each other!
I enjoy decorating the Christmas tree with the help of my kids.
tweet
https://twitter.com/Kellydpa/status/539623791710572544
Best Thanksgiving tradition is the Macy's parade with my kiddos! On TV, of course!
My favorite holiday tradition is going to the farm to pick out our tree. The kids love the animals and hay ride, and everyone has a say in which tree we pick out.
Decorations and Christmas Lights!
We love Listening to Christmas Music! We all love getting together making hot chocolate and driving to the Tree Farm to pick up our Christmas tree. We love driving around our town looking at all the light displays-and we have so much fun making our Holiday Cutout Cookies!
Tweet Entry
https://twitter.com/JewelWood/status/539791350691295233
SOB WE MISSED IT!!! -- turns out THREE KIDS with PINK EYE. SIX PINK EYES. My Sunday was less than stellar.
Your Friendsgiving sounds wonderful! I should totally start that tradition....right now the biggest Thanksgiving tradition in my family is my very special, yummy, best ever in the history of the world stuffing! :)
Friendsgiving sounds like so much fun. I'd love to start something like that with all the great people in my life.
We have a lot of traditions. Every year we get a real Christmas tree and decorate it while listening to Christmas music. We also decorate a gingerbread house every year.
tweet https://twitter.com/yarbr012/status/540207510519836673
Our family holiday traditions are to decorate the house and outside the house.also to bake a lot of Christmas cookies.
Our traditions include getting out the Christmas tree a little early, singing lots of Christmas songs, and baking cookies! Love it all.
chambanachik(at)gmail(dot)com
We always make Pepperoni Dip as an appetizer on Thanksgiving. Cause right, we need more bread and cheese and meat before the bread and meat.
I tweeted about the sweepstakes - https://twitter.com/sleepgh/status/540628597716041729
Tweet: https://twitter.com/OneFrugalGirl/status/540677668027793408
onefrugalgirl AT gmail DOT com
Picking out Christmas trees at a local farm and cutting them down together.
onefrugalgirl AT gmail DOT com
Our daughter's b-day is in December, so right after her party, after family and friends leave, we always decorate the house together for Christmas.
Tweet link: https://twitter.com/shala_darkstone/status/541330226324578305
Having a big Christmas dinner at my Grandma's!
My favorite holiday tradition is baking sugar cookies with my family.
tcarolinep at gmail dot com
-https://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/541793685126406146
My favorite tradition is driving around looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.
We read Scripture and make homemade cinnamon rolls for the family.
decorating cookies, gingerbread houses and making popcorn strings for the tree every year pryfamily5@gmail.com
decorating cookies, gingerbread houses and making popcorn strings for the tree every year pryfamily5@gmail.com
decorating cookies, gingerbread houses and making popcorn strings for the tree every year pryfamily5@gmail.com
i tweeted https://twitter.com/thepryfamily2/status/542805474303688705 pryfamily5@gmail.com
picking out our Christmas tree
https://twitter.com/sweetums82/status/543056545987039232
we purchase same pj every Christmas and take a silly photo.
https://twitter.com/HappyTina0115/status/543106567977979904
Our favorite holiday tradition is to make Christmas cookies together while listening to Christmas music.
tweeted https://twitter.com/mummytotwoboys1/status/544244168407535616