Celebrating an All-American Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving—it combines all of my favorite things! Fall, food and family! This morning I woke up to a crisp, fresh fall morning. It finally hit me that it’s November 20^th—meaning that Thanksgiving is a week away! I love everything about fall. Everything is just so amazing… the colors, the chilly air, snuggling up against the fireplace with a book, going out for long fall walks… it’s just such a nice time! And to tie it all together, we get to have Thanksgiving right at the time that the atmosphere of fall usually ends. We don’t get to have this kind of weather for too long, nor do we get to enjoy the beautiful scenery, so it’s good to cherish it while it lasts. The feeling of fall is unique and exciting. It’s brisk and busy, but not as crazy and hectic as it gets around the holiday season in December. There’s not as many things going on, and it’s so much nicer when the weather is not so freezing cold, and when it’s snowing, hailing and freezing rain!

The food on Thanksgiving is the best food of the year! Roasted juicy turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, fluffy stuffing, and of course, my personal favorite—apple pie, chocolate cake or really any other dessert (you name it!).  There’s always way too much food, and we have leftovers for days (which I’m okay with)! And this way, I have a good excuse to stop my diet for a little!

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving comes at a pretty bust time of the year. With family scattered all around the country, it’s hard to get everyone together at all, not to mention for Thanksgiving! It’s hard to pay for flights to go somewhere for a couple days, especially since the kids don’t have a lot of time off! That’s why I love giving gift baskets on Thanksgiving! They combine all of my favorite aspects of fall! They’ve got the food, they help me be in contact with my family, and you can decorate them with fall-themed decorations! And this way, I can still make sure that I am celebrating Thanksgiving with family in some way or another.

The gift baskets on Thanksgiving also add to the Thanksgiving foodie in me. I love when my family from different places reach out to me and send me a thoughtful gift that I can munch on for the weekend!

I also love the thought of giving my clients gift baskets at Thanksgiving. It lets them know how much they mean to me, and how thankful I am for their continued business, loyalty, and trust.

And then of course there’s my friends! Sometimes we just don’t have time for our friends, with everything going on with work, family, and the kids. It’s so nice to reach out to my friends during Thanksgiving season to remind them how much I care, and as a way of making sure that we’ll make plans soon. My friends always look forward to getting gift baskets from me each year on Thanksgiving—sometimes they don’t even bother to make dessert since they know what I’ll send them is so yummy!

Thanksgiving is a time to think about how thankful we are for everything we have in our lives… our families, friends, colleagues and clients! That’s why I love sending gift baskets to people during this time. They force me to think about who I’m thankful for and what I’m lucky to have, and then I’m able to show that through a beautiful basket. All of these things combined with the time of year, the weather, the atmosphere and the cheer make for a fabulous holiday! It really couldn’t get any better!