Thanksgiving this year was a surprise.
For weeks, I looked forward to it as being a homecoming of sorts. It was the first Thanksgiving that my mom and I have had on our own since 2012, when we ate at Candle 79. We did the same this year, and I think a part of me expected the whole ritual to be as if nothing had changed. I thought it might momentarily feel the way things did before the end of my post-bacc, before coming back to New York, before me and Steven, and before some grievous losses in my mom’s life.
It didn’t, of course, and in spite of how badly I wanted to reclaim time this week, memories kept catching up to me. I spent the day or two before the holiday feeling broken open and weepy, rather than excited for time off or eager to celebrate. I’d had it in my mind that this Thanksgiving would somehow offset last year’s Thanksgiving, which was difficult for a lot of reasons.
That isn’t how it went, of course. My mom and I were together, as much of a team as ever, eating at the very same table we ate at for Thanksgiving 2012 (and with the same wonderful food). But we couldn’t help feeling certain absences: the loss of my grandmother and my mom’s partner, the dissolution of my relationship (which had become a part of both of our lives), and many other changes we’ve experienced separately and together in the last five years. It wasn’t a homecoming so much as a regrouping.
As it turned out, the weekend was full of other surprises, curveballs and unexpected bits and pieces that threw me for a loop. It wasn’t the peaceful holiday weekend I’d been counting on, but rather a disruptive couple of days that invited me to take stock of what’s important.
As I was reflecting on this yesterday, I kept coming back to a quote from Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart:
I’ve read these words so many times. Each time they’re a reminder that things will never cohere perfectly or permanently. Everything is always changing, but there can be peace and beauty in experiencing that motion.
When you’ve passed through a difficult period, it can be tempting to yearn for a delivery of good fortune, or for experience that feels redemptive somehow. You want suffering to have purpose, for pain to be justified by wisdom or abundance or growth. I’m a little embarrassed to say it out loud, but I’ve been wanting all of these things, badly, and I guess that I’d envisioned this holiday season as being a touchstone of sorts—a benchmark of how far I’d come from last year.
That’s not the point. And that’s not what the holiday was. Instead, it was an invitation for me to feel grateful for all of the things that have endured while so much else changes.
As I sit here this morning, I’m thinking about my bond with my mom, which shifts and expands and grows along with us. I’m thinking about my chosen family, many of whom I spoke to in the last few days. I’m thinking about being rooted in a place I love, and little festive traditions here in the city that I revisit happily each year. I’m looking back on my quiet evening walk yesterday along unusually empty downtown streets, so peaceful. I’m thinking about food, how much I savor and look forward to the rhythms of sitting down to eat each day.
I experience these things differently from year to year, as my life evolves. But I experience their sameness, too, and the constancy often feels like a thing of beauty. The holiday weekend wasn’t a celebration of things being “back to normal,” because there’s no normal, and time flows forward. But somehow it did end up feeling like a celebration of both permanence and impermanence, and the spaces in between.
If you observed the holiday this week, I hope that you found something meaningful to celebrate. If you didn’t, I hope you had a restful couple days. Enjoy the articles and the recipe links this week!
Looking for an alternative to oatmeal as usual? I’m loving Erin’s sweet potato einkorn porridge. It’s a genius way to use up leftover mashed sweet potatoes and to sweeten up breakfast nutritiously. (And it’s something I can make with the einkorn and kamut berries I’ve had in my pantry for too long.)
If oats are calling to you, Meredith’s savory mushroom oats would be a tasty choice for any meal or time of day.
What a beautiful, festive salad for the holiday season! Emily combines roasted delicata, fingerling potatoes, kale, and pomegranate seeds with a champagne vinaigrette in this colorful mixture.
Looking for the ultimate roasted fall veggie platter for holiday gatherings? Sue’s easy rainbow roasted veggies combine every color and texture in service of a dish that’s as simple as it is lovely.
Finally, I can’t get over how pretty and festive Jackie’s persimmon creme brûlée is. I’ve never even thought to attempt creme brûlée in vegan form—it seems like such a challenge—but she makes it look easy.
1. A fascinating, lyrical consideration of the value of sleep. This article isn’t about medicalized sleep therapies; on the contrary, it considers sleep as a human experience that transcends pure biology:
I’m a relatively minimal sleeper, and the article gave me a lot to think about.
2. A really interesting take on how the shift from reading out loud—once a cultural and intra-familial norm—to reading in private changed Westerners’ interior lives.
3. I found this portrait of one couple’s unusual approach to death and dying so touching.
4. Kathryn Schulz considers how and why human beings conjure up the fantastic and mythical beasts we do, and what makes these creatures believable.
5. I didn’t grow up in a home where a lot of dinner parties or entertaining happened—my mother didn’t really have the time, and if she had the inclination, I never knew about it, plus there was the issue of space in our little NYC apartment—but I’ve always loved the idea of them, if only because the reality always felt a little exotic. I enjoyed reading all of the articles in The New York Times‘ tribute to the dinner party.
And on that note, I’m wishing you all a good Sunday night. I’m back tomorrow with news of a fun new baking collaboration that has given me so much pleasure this fall, and I can’t wait to share it with you!
xo
Happy Sunday, friends. It’s been…a week. Nothing insurmountable, just a pile-up of a lot of things at once. They all had one thing in common, which is that they were largely outside of my control. It started last weekend. A relationship that I’d actually been hopeful about (the first in a long time), came apart. Its unraveling felt as sad and mysterious as its beginning had felt bright and surprising. I guess it’s a mark of some sort of progress that I understood all…
Good morning, friends. Happy Sunday. It’s nice to be entering the winding down that always seems to precede Christmas and New Year’s. My book manuscript deadline is looming, so the week ahead will be a fairly productive one (I hope), but I won’t be multitasking, and that’s a relief. I always take pleasure in work that feels deep and focused. For many people, the winter holidays present an opportunity to experience, observe, or celebrate faith–and by this I mean organized faith. I’ve been thinking…
Five or so years ago, I sat in my apartment in DC one late winter evening with my friend Reed. We were surrounded by dirty mugs (we’d actually taken pictures at the number of coffee cups in my dishwasher as a joke, to document how hyper-caffeinated we were), index cards, papers. It was a chaotic scene, and I was adding to the chaos with something resembling a meltdown over not being able to figure out a complicated genetics problem. We were approaching the…
I had every intention of sharing some food this week, but blogging (and a bunch of other things) got put on the back burner. My mom had a total knee replacement, so I’ve been pitching in at her place, keeping her fridge stocked and doing my best to be helpful in other, small ways. She’s healing well, giving PT all of her effort and attention, and I know she’ll be up and about in no time. Being by her side brought up a…
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I love reading your words when I have a chance. It’s wild how time and events affect our traditions, and change the feelings around them. This year, I had a very tiny Thanksgiving, and it was pleasant, but seemed so casual and small compared to so many before it. Life is hard! And I’m sending you many, many hugs.
In addition, thank you for sharing my creme brûlée, it means so much, and I’m REALLY in love with it. Kind of obsessed, even. <3
I love your writing. Thank you so much for sharing and being honest, you articulate feelings that I dont have words for. I hope you have a peaceful break xoxo
Hello Gena, I do love that quote from Poma Chodron. Like you, over the last few years I have given a great deal of consideration to the experience of pain and suffering and to my own (usually false) expectations and beliefs around it. I realise that over and over again I expect to be able to ‘work through’ my discomfort and therefore to ‘fix’ it or ‘solve’ it. Poma Chodron’s words express so well what I have slowly come to realise: that there is no solution, but that, as you yourself say further on in your post, there are still peace and beauty to be found, regardless of suffering.
I wondered if you would mind me using the quote by Poma Chodron on an upcoming post on my own blog, and letting my readers know that it was you who directed me to it? I would provide full links to both the actual post where you quote it and to your blog as a whole.
PS Thank you for your blog, which I discovered only recently and which I am enjoying exploring. I particularly love the quiet, thoughtful nature of your posts. From one ‘quiet thinker’ (and ex-anorexic) to another … It’s great to find like-minded writers on the blogosphere! 🙂
No problem, Rebecca! Of course you can mention this post when you reflect on Pema’s words on your blog. So glad that the quotation speaks to you, too.
Thanks Gena 🙂
Dear Gena, I can really relate to your frame this week, and also this particular bit: “. . . that’s not what the holiday was. Instead, it was an invitation for me to feel grateful for all of the things that have endured while so much else changes.” I had one of these Thanksgivings, too, and in the end it was lovely. Different reasons, etc., but it’s all about being present, yes? I enjoyed seeing these elegant yet simple recipes (loved that the delicata in the salad is not peeled) and I really enjoyed the dinner party article–my parents gave many, but most were also kid friendly, and so the holidays reminds me of their generous entertaining spirit. Wistful about it, in some ways. I haven’t gotten to it yet, but I look forward to reading about reading out loud. Much love to you–very grateful for your presence here and in my life!! xoxo
Gena, loved your reflections on impermanence and finding rest amidst the chaos, as the chaos never really goes away. This year has been one of loss and grief, and I can completely relate to your feelings in the days leading up to the holiday. Thank you for articulating the human experience so beautifully. xoxo
I was at a holiday gathering where someone made that persimmon creme brulee and it was AMAZING. I can highly recommend it. Happy holidays Gena!
That’s so great to hear!! <3
Happy Holidays, Gena, thank you for sharing your thoughts + complicated relationship with this time of year, which I can so relate. <3 -Mere