"Wanna snuggle, Mum-ah?"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving is my favourite of all the holidays, because it's simply about being thankful. It's not about the presents, and the food is always delicious no matter what the menu, but the best part for me, is getting together with family and friends, especially ones that we seldom see, which seems to become the case more often as the kids get older. Even though the time is more crunched than at Christmastime, we get to catch up with the cherished people in our lives. We spend time with good friends, most of our cousins, nieces, nephews, siblings, parents and my Grandma. The kids all love playing together and watching them together is amazing. It truly is my favourite weekend of the year.

Sadly, we missed all our gatherings this weekend because yours truly was sick. I've had some sort of bug since Wednesday and it just wouldn't let go. I really wasn't up to it this year. Rather than pass whatever this is to everyone else, Steve, Jonas and I stayed home. I didn't leave my bed, the couch, or bathroom, and the boys got a little stir-crazy even though we kicked Jonas outside to play every day. We were all pretty bummed about it.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving though, I am thankful for something about this weekend. Jonas was in take care of mom mode, at least part of the time. He brought me water, read me a story, made me breakfast on Sunday (eggos slathered in choco-hazelnut spread with a banana - yum!) and several times he uttered the best phrase of all: "Wanna snuggle, Mum-ah?"

Snuggle time with him is right up there at the top of my list of favourite things. ADHD means that he doesn't stay in one place for very long and even when he does he's still fidgety, but he loves to snuggle when we watch tv or read a book. His boney little shoulder digging into my chest, that little sigh he makes after he's adjusted the blanket for the thirty-second time so that's just right, and his little wiggle to finally get himself and Teddy settled... pure heaven for me. 

It's part of our nightly ritual at bedtime too. Once we've done jammies and storytime, and our teeth are brushed, we snuggle in his bed for 10 or 15 minutes. We start by looking at the stars on his bedroom ceiling and try to find goofy new constellations. (Randomly placed glow-in-the-dark paint dots. He may never get his Scouts Stargazer Badge now!) We talk about the day just past and the one yet to come. (What was the best part? What was the worst part? How can we make tomorrow great?) After that, as he's starting to drift off, we decide what we're going to dream about and where we're going to try to meet in Dreamland. (He usually picks Candyland.) Then we whisper I love you, I kiss him, he kisses me back and we snuggle for a couple of more minutes.

I know these moments are fleeting. It won't be long before he outgrows them. For the time being though, they are a special part of our day and I am so thankful for them!

Cheers!