If grief is a part of your holiday this year, how about doing something different? Something all the way different from Thanksgivings before.

This year for Thanksgiving, no one really felt like cooking. Or having people over. Or doing anything that remotely reminds us of having Thanksgiving with dad. I'm even ready to forgo the turkey! (Alright, that really isn't too much of a sacrifice for me) With all of this said and done, we did want to get together as a family so instead of making dinner, we made reservations!

My sister had seen an advertisement from a local restaurant, offering a Thanksgiving meal in addition to their regular menu. She called me and asked, "How about_____ for Thanksgiving this year?" "That gets my vote!", I told her. Then we called our mom and our aunt and they loved the idea. The only hold out was my Nana, who loves tradition, yet she was invited to my uncle's out of town. Those plans for her didn't work out, and she is excited to now be included wherever we end up. And this year, it is a restaurant. And a good thing we called early. We called over 3 weeks ago and they almost didn't have enough room for our very large family.

We have no idea how it is going to go tomorrow. I'm surprised at how much I'm looking forward to it. I have seen my mom, my stepmom, one sister and one brother within these last two days and we have all cried at one point or another. It's going to be hard, but we are making an effort. Maybe a new tradition is in the making. And by the way, I think that I will give the turkey a rest and have prime rib for dinner tomorrow.