My alarm clock wakes up with a rendition of Sleigh Ride sifting through the speakers. I’ve been sitting up for the past 15 minutes waiting. And its finally here. I could’ve just turned it on myself, but that wouldn’t feel so official, so unchangeable. This way, it is declared that it is positively Christmas time.

Thanksgiving. The holiday feast that marks the end of the fall feel and brings in the winter.

Thanksgiving in our house always begins with the Macy’s Day Parade. Children and adults dressed like children wave for hours on gigantic floats with the occasional appearance of a celebrity mouthing their most popular tune. Balloons file by, waving their helium hands. Rockettes, Sesame Street, Snoopy, Grover, SANTA. Its the greatest parade ever. Cheesy, yes. But always fun to watch. I and my sister eat the muffins my Mom thoughtfully went out to get and drink the coffee that several Thanksgivings ago I began to consume.

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad putter around the kitchen. Dad the responsibility of the turkey and gravy, and his family’s stuffing, of course. Mom, everything else. As the cast of Annie sing about tomorrow, Mom tries to convince Dad that he doesn’t need to add any apples. When an unknown preteen boy band sing about losing the love of their lives, laughter drifts from upstairs as they share a private joke.

Finally the big moment that we weren’t waiting for, Santa. Then, in a moment, its over. Another Macy’s Day Parade, gone. But the day’s not done yet. As the annual dog show comes on, we turn the TV off and go upstairs. “Our guests are coming over in an hour and nothings ready,” my Mom’s annual saying. “It’s OK, you go get ready and me and the kids will clean up,” my Dad’s. So even though the house is spotless, we vacuum and tidy.

Guests arrive, we talk for a while, then, we eat.

With Michael Buble's Christmas music in the background, my Mom nearly jogs around the kitchen taking that casserole out of the oven, putting another one in. My Dad artfully cuts the turkey with the expert hand of the Thanksgiving father. I imagine us all around him, watching in awe at his craft. Finally we sit down.

Again, my Mom overdid it. We can’t fit all the food on the table, as usual. I can hardly fit all the food on my plate. Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, peas, mashed potatoes, twenty different casseroles - its simply endless, and tasty. An hour later everyone is still gathered around the table eating and telling stories about their childhood, their vacations, telling funny stories about work, and embarrassing stories about their children. It seems like it will all last forever. The rhythmic talking and chewing, laughing, then finally, sighing. And while we all sit back and try to hide our thoughts of sprawling on the floor and sleeping, my Dad will take out his Bible and read us a passage. Because, even though we forget sometimes, we are gathering to remember our ancestors and the struggles they went through. And even higher than that, our God, and how he protects His people and guides them through times of want, and times of plenty. How thankful we should be that we live in a time of plenty!

Finally, we've seen the last of the turkey for the day (although for another week we'll be eating leftovers) and its time to relax and digest enough to make room for dessert.

Instead of just sitting around, we eventually end up playing Jet Moto, Crash Bandicoot, and our usual hockey championship on our Playstation. The hockey is always fun to play, except when my sister is on my team. Who knew that a twenty something year old could be so selfish with the puck.

To end the night, we gather with our pumpkin, pecan, and apple pie, or a combination of two (or three) of them, and turn on the first Christmas movie of the year. We delightedly welcome Christmas cheer into our home.

After Kevin reunites his family in the Plaza hotel, its time to say goodbye to the guests. We say our thanks for the food they brought and their company, wave goodbye and say we'll see them next week at our Gingerbread house party.

That is one of the beautiful things of Thanksgiving. It will end, but you know that another holiday is on its way. With plenty of time to Christmas shop and play in the snow in between.

It is times like these that I actually realize, stunned, at how much I am blessed. I have a loving family, a (very) warm home, and all the food I could ask for. If Thanksgiving food does one thing, it makes you realize the abundance of our lives.

So Thanksgiving ends and Christmas comes, but our praises to God will never cease.