Crafting Our Thanksgiving

After all these weeks in her empty nest counting the days until her only child would be with her again, she wouldn’t see her for Thanksgiving. “Well, I was hoping to cheer you up,” Joel said.

Dana was sitting cross-legged on the living room floor surrounded by dried corn husks when her front door opened on the eve of Thanksgiving. Joel, whom she had been dating since mid-September, whistled as he entered the house, then stopped short. “Wow.” His eyes widened at the mess, then gazed pointedly around the room at all the other decorations Dana had already put into place. “Is that a… wreath?”

Dana nodded. She had thought she was out of ideas after the cross-stitched napkin rings, the papier-mâché cornucopia and the pilgrim peg dolls, but a trip to the craft store had renewed her inspiration. Now she had enough projects to carry her through her first holiday weekend without her daughter, Audrey.

“It’s still snowing up there, then?” Joel removed his shoes, then stepped carefully over the wreath-in-progress and sat on the couch.

“Those tour guides weren’t kidding.” Dana remembered how impossible snow on

Thanksgiving had seemed back when she and Audrey first visited the campus. “This is what I get for letting her go north.” It was the ultimate blow. After all these weeks in her empty nest counting the days until her only child would be with her again, she wouldn’t see her for Thanksgiving.

“Well, I was hoping to cheer you up,” Joel said. “We could catch a movie.”

Dana looked up at Joel, admiring that auburn hair with the flecks of gray and the cool blue eyes that always took her breath away. She knew she’d have fun if she went with him, and that it would take her mind off of things. But she didn’t know how heavily she should lean on him. Dating was fun, but it had only been two months, and they were heading into the holidays with no clear definition of what they were to each other. As her daughter was doing with the snowstorm, Dana decided to play it safe.

“This is going to take me a while. I’d better stick around here tonight.”

Joel switched on the TV and lay on the couch watching for a little while, but Dana could sense he was restless. He kept flipping through the channels, switching shows every time a commercial break came on. When he wasn’t flipping, he was swiping his phone screen and thumbing in what she assumed must be texts to his family, undoubtedly confirming his own plans for tomorrow.

She was nearly finished with the wreath and thinking about snuggling up with him on the couch, when he said suddenly. “It’s getting late. I’m gonna head out.”

“Oh.” Dana tried to keep her surprise and disappointment out of her voice. They were just casually dating. He was free to leave whenever he pleased. They both stood simultaneously, and Dana smiled up at him. His warm goodnight kiss sent a little tingle down her spine, but she bit back the urge to ask him to stay. Honestly, who wouldn’t want to get away from the crazy craft lady? As if reading her thoughts, Joel plucked a bit of corn fluff from her hair and said, “Goodnight, honey.”

After a fitful night, Dana woke early and immediately started cooking. The weather report and texts from her daughter confirmed that she would be the only one dining on the turkey breast, stuffing, carrots, applesauce bread, and pumpkin pie she had planned to make, but she couldn’t let the ingredients go to waste. Besides, if Joel did stop by at some point, she wanted to have something to offer him.

Oddly, though, for the first time since they met, she didn’t hear from Joel all morning aside from a quick text containing two emojis: a smiley face and a turkey. Was this a sign that he was losing interest? She wished now that she had gone to the movies last night. The thought that her single-mindedness had scared him off only deepened her disappointment in this holiday.

With the scent of turkey in the air and the first Christmas tunes of the season blaring on the stereo, Dana worked at the dining table decorating her planner pages for next week, losing herself in festive pens, stickers and washi tape to avoid thinking about all that was wrong with this day. She was about to place a particularly jovial-looking Santa Claus under the heading for Tuesday when the doorbell rang.

“Hi, Mom,” Audrey said when the door swung open. Dana squealed like a toddler as she stepped forward and hugged her daughter tightly. “I can’t believe it’s really you.” Clinging to Audrey, she suddenly saw out of the corner of her eye that they weren’t alone. At the foot of the porch stood Joel!

“Oh!” she said. “Hi! Audrey, you remember Joel from our Skype calls.”

Audrey gave her a quizzical look. “I obviously remember him. I’ve been in a truck with him since 5 A.M.”

Dana froze, dropping her jaw as she looked from Audrey to a mischievously grinning Joel. He shrugged. “You clearly needed her to be here, and my truck has good snow tires. I figured it was worth a try.”

Shaking her head, Dana stepped past Audrey and moved in closer to her… whatever Joel was. “I’m heading up to my room for a few minutes,” Audrey called, but Dana barely heard her.

“I’ve been miserable to be around,” Dana said. “I thought you were getting sick of me and my crafting.”

Joel laughed, sounding shocked. “No way. I just want you to be happy.”

“So you drove what, sixteen hours round-trip in the snow?” Dana couldn’t stop beaming. What a guy.

“Fourteen. And it was only snowing part of the time. But yeah. I did.” He reached out to stroke her cheek. “And look at that smile. It was one hundred percent worth it.”

“But what about your plans? You shouldn’t ruin your holiday for me.”

“Maybe I haven’t made myself clear,” Joel said. “I know we’ve been taking it slow, just getting to know each other. But I want to be with you today, and all weekend, and through Christmas, and into the new year, and beyond. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, even if it is a craft, sign me up. Okay?”

Dana grinned. That didn’t sound casual at all. That sounded like a commitment. Nothing about Thanksgiving was turning out like she expected, and she couldn’t be more grateful. “In that case,” she said, taking Joel’s hand and tugging him playfully toward her. “I hope you like turkey. Audrey and I can’t possibly eat all of it by ourselves.”

Joel squeezed her hand, then lifted it to his lips. “Just lead me to the table, and make sure my seat is next to yours.”

As they headed inside, Dana went to remove the pens and other materials from the dining table, laughing softly as she realized she couldn’t have crafted a better holiday for herself if she had tried.