THE "WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO" THANKSGIVING DINNER
She wanted Thanksgiving to
be over... God had other plans.
"You doing anything special for Thanksgiving?” If one more person asked me that, I was going to lose it. I just wanted the whole thing to be over with.
Like most years. Thanksgiving had never been the happiest holiday for me. When I was little, it was fun
seeing my cousins, aunts and uncles. Then my father left. Thanksgiving dinner became subdued, less a celebration and more a reminder of how my family was splitting apart, not coming together.
Now I was divorced. The past year had been such a downer for me. I’d had to move to a smaller, cheaper apartment. Then my hours had been cut back at my bookstore job.
I didn’t feel like being around a lot of people, let alone pretending to be thankful for something. Not this year especially. I just wanted to stay home with my two cats and sleep in. Maybe I’d watch a movie.
If only my well-meaning coworkers hadn’t kept asking, “Linda, what are your plans for Thanksgiving?” At first I’d been honest, but the looks of pity I got were too much. So I changed my
reply to a casual, “Oh, I might have a few people over.” That worked better. Nobody pursued it.
Except my twentysomething coworker Jessica. She approached me as we were closing up the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. “I know this is a lot to ask,” she said shyly, “but my family lives out of town. Would you have room for one more?”
I started to grind my teeth. Jessica looked at me all doe-eyed. She was so sweet and innocent. I couldn’t crush her hopes. “Of course, Jessica. I’d love to have you join us.”
Her face lit up. “I’ll bring my mom’s famous creamed corn. How many people are coming?” I blurted out a number at random and Jessica went off with
a spring in her step.
I felt like a woman on her way to the gallows. What was I going to do now, when it would be just the two of us with enough creamed corn to feed an army...READ MORE 
