Beth
Thankfulness is one of the first character traits we teach our children. They come home from nursery school with little five-fingered turkeys that tell the world they are thankful for Mommy and Daddy, puppies, grandma, and (in the case of my youngest daughter when she was in kindergarten) “other continents.” I’m thankful I had the foresight to save a bunch of those from my kids because they brought me joy this year when I was decorating for the holiday.
In fandom news, I’m thankful for The Hating Game because that book was the most fun I had reading this year. I’m thankful for Audible because it allowed me to get through 11/22/63 in just a couple of weeks. I’m thankful for Amazon Prime because it allowed me to binge watch The Americans when I was bored this summer. I’m thankful for Ngozi and Check Please! because it continues to be an ABSOLUTE DELIGHT to fall into that fandom and that story. I’m thankful to the Outlander fandom (and especially the Outlander fans at TN) for caring SO MUCH, even when that means they gotta outsplain to us. And I’m thankful for this chat with CS Pacat and her most amazing book, Kings Rising, for being the perfect end to a perfect series.
Most of all, I’m thankful for That’s Normal for making being thankful for all of that, normal.
Amy
I’m thankful for anything that has helped to keep me sane over the past year. In a sea of stupid, I am clinging to my sanity life raft. Thank you to smart, relatable – flawed – women on television, with shows like Fleabag, Catastrophe, and One Mississippi. Thank you to the makers of Babolat tennis racquets, the best racquets with which to whack balls. Very stress relieving.
Thank you to my daughter Ruby who loves to sleep next to me on the weekends. Nothing says love like an arm to the face and a knee in the back around 3 AM.
My biggest thank you of all is to my friends. When you go through crap, you really find out who is there for you. And I have some amazing women and men who have held my hand, hugged me, cried with me, drank wine with me. So let me pull out my little paper list from my Calvin Klein gown…(AHEM)…thank you to Dani, Brigid, Karen, Stephanie, and Kenneth. And of course, I cannot forget the amazing women of TN.
Heidi
I know I’m not the only one ready to see the backside of 2016 as it walks out the front door leaving only heartbreak and that one jacket it forgot to pack behind. This year was a proverbial dumpster fire of personal setbacks, celebrity deaths and the end of human decency the Presidential election. I’ve found solace in the small things like seeing color for the first time, my oldest child starting kindergarten and judging beautiful people on The Bachelor, but the one thing I’m really thankful for this year is the internet.
Thank you internet for giving me access to different perspectives than my on personal bubble can provide. Perspectives from people of color who have taught me more about my own privilege and how to engage social injustice. Perspectives from people of different political persuasions who are teaching me to have more compassion even when I vehemently disagree. Perspectives from powerful women who have taught me more about feminism. Perspectives from people of faith who share my concerns and help me realize that I have community outside of the four walls of my home church. The internet has made my world a bigger, more accessible and understandable world. I’m still struggling to comprehend how we got where we are and where we go from here, but at least I know I’m not alone in the struggle.
Lorena
I am thankful for the Euros this year leading me to fully discover the glory that is the Welsh dragon, Ashley Williams. Also, the Iceland team. How can one not love the Iceland team? I am also thankful to Tom Hiddleston for waiting until after me and Jamie W. took our epic photo with him to go public with his life choices that unequivocally changed the landscape of how I felt about him.
Carrie Jo
This has been a difficult year for me personally, but it’s also been a year in which I’ve learned to focus on the things that bring me joy.
At the top of that list is my husband. He may force me to do P90X3 with him, but he also gives me endless back massages, will watch Gilmore Girls with me on Netflix tomorrow, and will indulge my obsessions by planning vacations to Cornwall or encouraging me to take a road trip to see Sarah J. Maas on book tour.
I’m very grateful for my 7-year-old, because even if she makes me watch endless hours of Ever After High on Netflix, she’s awesome in ways only a daughter can be.
My sister doesn’t read TN, but of she did, she’d be rolling her eyes that I’m discussing her here. I still love her.
As usual, I’m so thankful for the escape fiction provides, because this year, I’ve needed it more than ever.
My friends have saved my sanity this year. They’ve been my shoulders to cry on. I’ve gotten chocolate truffles delivered to my door and ridiculous bitmoji texts that have made me smile on a bad day. My list of friends wouldn’t be complete without the community we’ve created here at That’s Normal. I love that I have virtual friends as well as the IRL ones. My IRL friends are woefully ignorant of all things Downton and Poldark, and do not appreciate Aidan Turner scything shirtless. So I’m thankful for all of you who do!
Danelle
I’m thankful for the amount of patience I have learned this year when dealing with anyone who wanted to discuss anything political. I am also thankful for my three beautiful daughters and my husband, as always. I am also thankful that I live in Texas, because we will be having a mild winter, apparently, and although I love the fall season, winter isn’t for me, and the only snow I love is one named Jon. ❤
Julie
This has definitely been a year of extreme high and extreme lows. I choose being high. Not that type of high but it’s legal now in the state of California, so…
I am thankful for the people in my life, especially my parents who truly show me unconditional love and support and cheered me on in 106 degree weather when I earned my masters. I am thankful to my trinity of best friends (Annette, Shannon, and Katie), especially Katie who selflessly listens to my post drafts, still reads every single post I write, and likes it even when I know a newborn child could have written something better. Finally, I’m thankful to my TN friends and for our IRL meet ups whether it be at Comic Con or just on some random Saturday. Seeing your faces, even if it’s only for a few days or a few hours? Worth it.
Nikki
Most people are probably really happy to see 2016 wind down, which yea, I sort of am too, we’ve lost tons of amazing artists, friends and family this year as well as being part of a very polarizing election. I am incredibly ready for a new year but I’m also so thankful for what I’ve be able to be part of in this one.
I love experiences and this year I got to add a few amazing moments I’m thankful for. From Scotland and London to the set of Outlander courtesy of Starz (more in the coming months, we promise!), mixing my own whisky, flying here, there and everywhere, hanging in the ICU for the early part of the year, seeing the Rosetta Stone in person, having high tea with friends, paddle boating Echo Park Lake, camping on the Pacific Ocean, visiting the high desert, hugging an Edward Cullen cosplayer, red carpets, jumping in front of the Bean, countless concerts, Cons on top of Cons, meeting so many new people plus readers of TN (!) and awesome client events. I’m so thankful for those experiences and the people I got to experiences them with.
Hello fake Castle Leoch!
Jamie W
I am thankful for the aforementioned Hiddlesworth photo. What an amazing 18 seconds. I usually abhor having my picture taken, but Lorena and I really crushed it in that one. I’m also thankful for Armie Hammer photo shoots, awesome movies that continue to bring joy to my life, and the fact that Harry Potter is back in the form of Fantastic Beasts. We really need the magic.
On this Thanksgiving Day specifically I’m thankful for the fact that my family was invited somewhere for dinner, so I don’t have to cook the entire meal by myself. Of course I’m thankful for all of the usual, important things: my mother, sisters, niece, and forthcoming nephew. (Please don’t pee in my face if I ever have to change your diaper, little buddy. I’ve heard boys do that.)
Laura
I am thankful for so many things this year. I’m thankful for my wonderful family who all came together to get through a truly terrible time. I’m thankful for my work for being so wonderful about working with me when I had to have major knee surgery. I’m thankful to my very best friend for helping to take care of me after that horrible surgery. Y’all, she drove me to my follow-up appointments, all of which were well over an hour away. She brought me snacks and made sure I was comfy everytime we were together. That is the best of the best right there. Love you, Cathryn. I’m thankful for the beautiful flowers the wonderful ladies at TN sent to me. They brightened my room up.
I’m thankful for every single donut I got to eat this year. From my hometown’s Fractured Prune Donuts to Stan’s Donuts in Chicago. I’m thankful for that time I got to pie my husband in the face at the direction of Mark Summers.
But mostly, I’m thankful for my husband, for his unwavering support throughout this terrible year. I’m thankful that I get to be the puppy mama to my wonderful Doberman and my baby Staffordshire Bull Terrier. And I guess I’m thankful I get to be the primary caretaker to my evil cat.
Bekah
Oh man you guys, 2016 has sucked SO BAD. But somehow, I survived– we all have. I’m thankful for so much. Where do I begin?
Do I start by thanking the bottles of wine that have helped me handle each and every evening that came every.single.day? Can I sing an ode to the Tempranillo, write a sonnet for an extra dry summer Rosé or entertain you with a rap for anything and everything that comes out of Bordeaux?
Can I thank the year of growth and ups and downs that turned a 40 hour work week into a 50, 60, 70 hour+ work lifestyle running an agency with an amazing friend and partner that is oh so exhausting but, oh so worth it (we think).
How about I pause for a moment to describe the smell of my home right now- of freshly cut Eucaplytus branches that remind me of Fall and Thanksgiving and Christmas, all wrapped in one. And are a memory of the beauty of life that I can enjoy inside my home, which can feel dark and small at times, and have become a priority as I’ve focused on self-pleasure.
Can we just talk about how thankful I am for tacos for a second? And living in a city that has a plethora of vegetarian meats to put inside a delicious soft corn shell?
And this city! The one I thought I’d leave when I first got a chance that has all the terrible big city problems (mice, roaches, stolen bikes, cat calls when walking to the subway, public transit strikes, takes too long to go see a friend a mile away so you write each other off and pretend you just moved to another state) AND all the benefits (art museums, restaurants, wine bars, hip neighborhoods, a spot of grass every once in awhile, a river, another river that smells better than the first river.). Philadelphia has never felt as “home” as it has in 2016.
But I’d give up my city and my flowers and my business and my wine and, yes, even my tacos for the people in my life. From my sisters to my new friends to my neighbors to friends I’ve had for ages, this year has been an incredible year of growth in my friendships as I’ve relied on those relationships more than ever. I also am grateful that some of my friends still like to talk on the phone!
Here I am living my best life at a vineyard
