THE HOLIDAY I LOOK FORWARD TO MOST
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays.
Not because of the turkey. I actually do not like turkey all that much. I have tried to convince myself otherwise over the years, but I would take ribs over turkey ten times out of ten.
What I do love is the ritual of it.
There is something grounding about a day that is not about gifts, not about production, not about achievement. It is about gathering. About slowing down. About eating more than you planned to and staying at the table longer than you intended.
This year, that hit differently.
THE BIG GREEN EGG AND A QUIET KIND OF SATISFACTION
Every year I smoke the turkey on my Big Green Egg. It has become my role. The one thing I can control on a day that otherwise moves on its own timeline.
I get up early. I prep the bird. I monitor the temperature like it is a business metric. There is something deeply satisfying about tending to something slowly over hours instead of trying to rush it.
This year, I added ribs to the mix. I figured if I was going to stand outside most of the day anyway, I might as well make something I actually love. The ribs ended up being the unexpected hit. No one complained about the turkey, but the ribs were gone first.
That felt like a small metaphor for the year.
TRADITION CHANGES WHEN YOU DO
We are in a different stage now. The house is quieter. The dynamic is evolving. Thanksgiving does not look exactly the way it did when the kids were younger and chaos was part of the fun.
And yet, the core of it feels stronger.
I noticed this year how much more intentional the conversations felt. Less rushing. Less distraction. More listening. I found myself less concerned about how everything looked and more aware of how it felt.
That shift did not happen accidentally.
It came from a year of thinking differently about growth, success, and what I want to protect.
GRATITUDE IS NOT A CHECKLIST
Entrepreneurs talk about gratitude a lot. We journal it. We list it. We post about it.
But gratitude is not something you manufacture on command. It tends to show up when you stop measuring everything.
Standing outside tending to the smoker in the amazing Scottsdale AZ weather, I realized how rarely I allow myself to simply appreciate what already exists. The business is steady. The relationships are strong. The health is good. None of that is guaranteed, and yet it is easy to treat it as baseline.
Thanksgiving interrupts that assumption.
It forces you to pause long enough to see what is right in front of you.
WHAT I AM MORE AWARE OF NOW
There was a time when even holidays felt like something to fit around work. I would show up physically but mentally still be solving problems or thinking about the next opportunity.
This year felt different.
I was present. Not perfectly, but intentionally. I was not in a rush to get back to anything. The ribs were smoking. The conversations were unfolding. The day did not need to produce anything.
That kind of presence is something I used to think would come automatically once things slowed down.
It does not. You have to choose it.
WHY THANKSGIVING MATTERS MORE THAN I ADMIT
I may not love turkey, but I love what the day represents.
It is a reminder that not all growth is measured in expansion. Some growth shows up in depth. In attention. In the willingness to enjoy what you have built without immediately chasing the next thing.
This year, tending to a smoker for hours felt like more than cooking. It felt like practice.
Practice in patience.
Practice in focus.
Practice in appreciating the slow process.
The ribs may have been the crowd favorite, but the real win was something quieter.
It was realizing that I do not want to outgrow the simple things that ground me.
LOOKING AHEAD
As the year winds down, I am less interested in what I accomplished and more interested in how I experienced it.
Thanksgiving reminded me that the most meaningful parts of life rarely come with metrics attached.
Sometimes they just come with smoke in the air, a full table, and time well spent.
And for me, that is more than enough.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.