Gobble, gobble. The holiday that starts off “The Holidays” seems to have come to represent a kind of feasting. “We’re working our way through three kinds of pie here, so the interruptions from long distance phone calls help us to pace ourselves,” said a relative of mine when I called.
A heartening change I have noted over the last several years and if it’s not universal, it’s a change that can be made in anyone’s home is a de-emphasis on fanciness and a re-emphasis on family feeling. If the preparations are going to overtax anyone’s household, or cognitive system, too much, then they should be ditched in favor of something simpler which leaves people feeling abler and more convivial. Piecrust from scratch might taste better, but if its price is the mood of the baker, then it’s too expensive. If “many hands make light work” sounds to you like a recipe for tempers flaring, cook alone.
(Years ago, my sister and I vied in a friendly way for supremacy in the piecrust department, each declaring ours to be “the flakiest piecrust on the block,” which was partially a joke because we lived on a farm and the nearest neighbor was at least a half-mile away; but also a joke we didn’t know we were making because we didn’t yet know that any piecrust coming from our house, because it was made by people with ADD, would be, by definition, flakiest.)
It’s not too quaint, or corny, to go around the table or if you’re more informal, the seating arrangements whatever and wherever they are — and ask each person to say what he or she is thankful for. And though by the time you read this, Thanksgiving may be past, any gathering of friends or family is fertile ground for this conversation. Even those among us who would be grateful to be given what we cannot have a standard issue brain appreciate a lot about our lives and the people in them and the abilities we have aplenty.
We at ncgiaddare thankful for you, our readers and supporters; we are thankful to live in a time when information can be gleaned quickly from the researchers who are working on gaining new knowledge about females and AD/HD; and we are glad to be able to pass it along rapidly to you; and thankful so many are in a position to be able to take the next steps, whatever they are.
As you head into “The Holidays,” bear in mind that less doing less, buying less, making less, eating less, spending less — can result in greater satisfaction, and that whatever it is, if it seems too hard, it might be too hard, and that’s enough to take the joy out of whatever it is. That defeats the purpose of “The Holidays,” whatever your religion or cultural background. Even a nice winter break from routine can be a pleasure if you remember to take good care of yourselves and those you care about.