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:
No duplicate comments.
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
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
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.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 12/1/2014 – 12/31/2014.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Reader Comments (177)
One of my fav holiday traditions is to drive around looking at holiday light displays with my hubby on Winter Solstice night!
I tweeted here: https://twitter.com/MsTofuFairy/status/550329391943651328
Eating dinner with my extended family and playing board games
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
tweet https://twitter.com/ChelleB36/status/550376758004822018
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
tweet https://twitter.com/ChelleB36/status/550376758004822018
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
Baking Christmas cookies and decorating the tree.
We love to bake Christmas cookies every year.
tweeted
https://twitter.com/thomasmurphy40/status/550384234133590016
link to my tweet:
https://twitter.com/thrincor/status/550386468036677633
kacor7@hotmail.com
I love dirty santa. Thank you
Eating chinese food and decorating the tree
Tweet: https://twitter.com/electricstar/status/550409054791544833
My favorite holiday tradition is baking sugar cookies together as a family and then frosting and decorating them. On Christmas Eve we take them to the Seniro Citizen Center and Homeless Shelter to give out.
My favorite holiday tradtion is our gift opening and bruch. My husband and sons have great senses of humor
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/rosannepm/status/550413951851560961
My favorite tradition is baking cookies and watching holiday movies with my husband and our friends.
decorating tress and baking cookies with kids
Going to Christmas Eve service, coming home to hot chocolate and opening one present.
Thanks for the contest.
we love baking and decorating Christmas cookies as well as decorating the tree and house
here is the link to my tweet: https://twitter.com/bellows22/status/550450417000132608
https://twitter.com/slehan/status/550451343001808896
Decorating the tree!
i tweeted https://twitter.com/TraceyAgrella/status/550453411691638784
My favorite tradition is we all get a bunch of scratch tickets in our stockings. We haven't won any big prizes yet, but hopefully will one day. :)
My favorite holiday tradition is going out to get hot chocolate then driving around to look at Christmas lights. We do this every year usually the weekend before Christmas.
I like to string popcorn
tweet
https://twitter.com/MistySunrise/status/550498960947679234