I hope everyone had a joyful, mouthwatering, laughter-filled, and truly wonderful Thanksgiving last Thursday! I have so very much to be thankful for this year, and I did spend the day reflecting on how truly grateful I am for all that I have been given in this life. Though there are days I feel worried about things, in my deepest heart I know I am one lucky girl to have all that I do!
For the first time this year we found ourselves traveling further than just across town to my Mother-In-Law’s as we usually do. My Sister-In-Law hosted it this year and we bravely made our way into the heart of holiday traffic to spend a few hours with my husband’s side of the family. It was difficult to leave my Mom to her own devices on Thanksgiving since I am her only close family left, and she had just recently been through surgery. I felt guilty the entire day. But we had arranged to have her over on Friday for our very own quiet celebration of Thanksgiving, a celebration I call “Funksgiving” (a play on our name), and that made me feel just slightly better about the way the chips had fallen.
Knittymunchkin loves Daddy’s old cars!
Funksgiving is not about getting dressed up, making uncomfortable small talk with people you don’t see often or know very well, or eating fancy foods that make all the guests ooh and ahh over the hostess’ cooking prowess. It’s about comfort, calm, and a day spent in our own house relaxing and feeling thankful for all our blessings. Funksgiving came about when my husband and I were first married and had to do the typical family negotiations involved around celebration of major holidays. Which side of the family would get to spend which holidays with us? Where would we go? How could we avoid offending anyone? My husband comes from a divided family. His Dad pretty much gets the shaft and we rarely, if ever, see him around any holidays. I think that’s because he is the easiest when it comes to these kinds of things. He doesn’t make a fuss and prefers to take the pressure off of us by bowing out, rather than expecting us to have to choose between families. So then it came down to my parents and my Mother-In-Law. My parents chose Christmas Day (Christmas Eve has always been “ours” in our own home) and my Mother-In-Law chose Thanksgiving. We hosted a couple Thanksgivings and Christmases in an attempt to include everyone, but it just didn’t seem to work out. Someone always seemed uncomfortable. So then my Mother-In-Law started hosting Thanksgiving for that side of the family and my parents would go to a friend’s house to celebrate. It felt strange not to see my folks at Thanksgiving. So we started inviting them to Funksgiving, which is traditionally the Friday after Thanksgiving, to try to keep everyone happy.
However, this was not the only motivation for the creation of Funksgiving. Probably the greatest reason was this: leftovers. Going to others’ homes for the big Thanksgiving meal meant that there was a massive dearth of holiday deliciousness in our fridge during my husband’s favorite holiday of the entire year. No turkey sandwiches, no leftover green bean casserole, no potatoes and gravy to munch on for days as you relive the glory of a comforting and filling Thanksgiving meal. We love spending this day with our little family, feeling grateful, and having a quiet meal together in our own home. It reminds us, for yet another day, of all that we have to be thankful for.
In the spirit of Funksgiving, and because I am still working on decluttering our home, I have a few things I’d like to offer up to all of you lovely readers who take the time to visit my humble blog and stop, for even a moment, to read my nonsense. I will give these items away, for free, to whoever leaves the first comment requesting the item. Just one item per person, if you please, and only US requests (I am unable to ship international right now due to lack of funds). If there seems a huge amount of interest in one particular item, or a question about who commented first, then I will hold a drawing to decide who receives it.
First up, is a copy of “Expectant Little Knits”. This is all maternity patterns for those of you who are expecting, will be expecting, or know someone who is expecting. I received a free copy of this, and as Knittymunchkin will be our one and only, I have absolutely no use for this book. I’d love for one of you to take it off my hands and enjoy it!
“Expectant Little Knits” – image courtesy of amazon.com
My next offering is something a little more near and dear to my heart. After recently completing a sweater that I’ve not failed to wear at least once a week since its finish (I’ll show you soon), I realized I have some hand knits that really need a better home than I’ve been giving them. First up is this one: 28thirty (ravelry link). I have lots of memories of working on this sweater, but only one memory of actually wearing it (other than the photo shoot). I was newly pregnant and wore it to one of my checkups. The receptionist complimented my sweater and when I told her I’d knit it myself she was pleasingly congratulatory on my knitting skillz. Made me feel awesome, especially since I was feeling a tad chubbity with Knittymunchkin blossoming in my belly, but not awesome enough to keep on wearing it. No matter what I try, it never looks right on me. One funny note: the sleeves look like earthworms, and I’ve always thought of it as my earthworm sweater :) Anyway, I knit this as a size Small and if you’d like to see more details and/or pics, the link to my ravelry project is here and the link to my original post about it on the blog is here. Any other questions, please feel free to e-mail me or comment here on the blog. I have just one request regarding this giveaway. Please, I beg of you, don’t ask for this sweater only to felt, frog, or cut it up! I want it to be worn by someone. It would break my heart to have all my hard work destroyed so easily :( Thank you!
Claimed by lollyknits! Thank you!!
28thirty – front view
Hope each of you had a joyful Thanksgiving and a very Happy Funksgiving to you as well!
