Celebrating Thanksgiving Away from Home

Thanksgiving is one of the holidays most closely identified with family get-togethers, but what if you're going to be having Thanksgiving away from home? I grew up in a close family both emotionally and physically, which translates into spending all of our holidays at one relative's house or another. When my husband and I moved to California for his military training I remember absolutely dreading the first away from home Thanksgiving. Now, I look back at our first Thanksgiving away from home and it's one of my favorite memories. We'll actually be going home for the first time in four years and now I'm disappointed that I'll be missing out on our away from home Thanksgiving.

What can you do to give yourself a great Thanksgiving away from home? There are five components that create a Thanksgiving full of memories. They are: "thanks-giving", people, food, fun, and giving back.

We're going to start with "thanks-giving" because this mindset will affect everything else. If you approach your away from home holiday completely confident that it will be a miserable terrible experience then it will be. If you're upset at the idea of being away from home start making your list of thanks right away. Start simple with being grateful that you're alive and that you have a bounty of food and possessions at your fingertips. You are blessed to be living in this country, no matter what you think of the politics. You are blessed if you don't have a friend or family member in Iraq. You are blessed that you have a roof over your head, food on your plate, and the ability to celebrate anything, period. So, now that you're aware of what you have to give thanks for let's plan an away from home Thanksgiving to remember.