Like many moms planning to enjoy a large Thanksgiving dinner with small children, I am bracing myself for the mess.  Between wrestling for the cranberry sauce and elbowing for pumpkin pie, gravy is inevitably flung, turkey chunks land like shrapnel on shirts… And that’s just the adults!

It’s a laundry nightmare.

For many, including me, dealing with messy clothes is, understandably, an onerous task.  But I have to confess that I actually love the moment of putting each of my kids’ clothes into the laundry basket at the end of each day and… get ready for it … checking them for stains!

Yes, I know, it’s bizarre.  There’s certainly nothing to love about stain-covered clothing. But for me, each stain reminds me of little moments in the day with my kids.  I smile when I see Elle’s leggings splattered with red paint from that crazy art project she proudly brought home from school.  I have to smirk when I see Max’s little shirt covered in yogurt from when he tried to feed himself breakfast.

Don’t get me wrong, stains annoy me and I wish my kids never got them.  But somehow they represent brief moments in the day that I get to re-imagine about my kids.  And with a 2 and 4 year old in the house, let’s just say this mom does a lot of re-imagining!

And for that, I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!