by Rae Anna Blake

Created on: November 21, 2008   Last Updated: November 26, 2008

Jasmine prepared for their Holiday adventure by writing out her list. Jasmine was very organized and felt compelled to always be prepared and have a plan in place. Her husband Jeff, well he was far from organized. Somedays Jasmine wondered how he ever got himself back home at the end of the day. Jeff was very spontaneous and to say he was messy, was an understatement. "Chloe, Carter, are you guys just about ready?" Jasmine shouted to her children as she stood at the base of her stairs staring at her checklist for the 100th time that morning.

By the door her bags sat, along with the pet carrier that housed their family pet, Pokey. Pokey was a quiet reserved little Shih Tzu that Chloe had brought home from school a couple years earlier. She found Pokey and he was a timid dishoveled mess, it was obvious that he had been neglected and possibly abused. Jasmine was hesitant to allow a dog into her structered life, but once they took Pokey to the vet and had him all checked over and their abuse suspicions were confirmed she could not bring herself to just abandon the poor little guy. Pokey has been a part of the family ever since and is never excluded from anything, including their family holidays.

Generally, Jasmine has been the hostess for several of the past Thanksgiving dinners, she just had a knack for pulling things all together, but this year her sister Vanessa would be doing the honors. Vanessa was newly married to her husband Rick and although Jasmine's family had accepted Rick willingly and openly, Rick's family was not so receptive to Vanessa. So this would be Vanessa's chance to impress upon them that she was now a part of their family.

Vanessa had asked Jasmine to come a day early to help her prepare. Her knack for planning and her eye for detail were exactly what Vanessa needed. Not to mention the fact that Jasmine has successful won over the hearts of her own husband's family by planning "the perfect meal", many years ago when her inlaws scoffed at the notion of their son being married to a woman of color. Jasmine, being the organized, independent, resourceful woman that she was found it liberating to show her new inlaws that her color did not define her and that she would not be slighted by the family that she married into.

Although Jeff's parent's did not openly say anything to Jasmine, she knew they were apprehensive about their son's new wife and their life together. So Jasmine did what she did best and she planned the perfect holiday dinner. After

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