#shrpgtask23

The following will be receiving points for completing SHRPGTASK23 ! 

Gianna: 1,100pts (2 tasks)

Aiden: 1,100pts (2 tasks) 

**Sharna: 1,900pts (3 tasks) 

Andy: 550pts (1 task) 

**Nadia: 2,450 (4 tasks) 

Emily: 1,100pts (2 tasks) 

Leah: 1,100pts (2 tasks) 

Renée: 550pts (1 task) 

Kat: 550pts (1 task) 

L: 1,100pts (2 tasks)

And congratulations Sharna and Nadia for receiving a BONUS 250 points for completing the most tasks! :) 

4. What is your character’s ideal Thanksgiving? Who would be sitting at the table? What would they be eating? How would they be celebrating the Holidays? 

Jackson woke up early. The flight from Scotland to America had taken much more out of him than he had expected. He had been so excited to see his cousin Jessie that he had barely been able to get any rest. She had been fast asleep when the family arrived so he hadn't wanted to wake her, but now it was a sensible time and he couldn't hold himself back. He tore down the stairs at top speed and ran straight into her room, enveloping her in a tight embrace.

"I missed you so much!" He exclaimed, practically yelling in her ear.

"Be quiet silly, you'll wake the whole house," Jessie said with a warm laugh. She smiled brightly and ruffled his hair.

"Too late for that!" His mother’s voice carried down from the top of the stairs. "We'll be down in a minute."

Jackson finally let go of his cousin and wandered through to the kitchen. Thanksgiving wasn't a holiday their family usually celebrated in Scotland but they decided to make the trip from their home this year especially for Jessie. It was something that meant a lot to her and it had been years since they had seen her. It didn’t take long for them to decide to make the trip.

"You planning on cooking it all by yourself, son?" his Dad asked, chuckling to himself.

A wide smile passed across Jackson's face as he turned to see his mother and father appear behind him. He leant over to give the two of them a warm hug. His Dad had taken the time off of work especially for them to travel. He had to beg his coworkers at the hospital to let him have a few days off, not just for the whole family but so he could spend some much needed time with his son. So that they could all be together. They even brought the cat.

Jessie took over control of the kitchen, no one was allowed to enter her domain, so Jackson decided to go and get Haggis out of his cat carrier. He spent most of the day curled up on the couch with his parents while Jessie slaved away. They snuggled in to watch TV with Haggis sitting on his lap - when the cat decided that it wanted to stay on his lap that is.

When dinner was finally ready and they all sat down around the table, Jackson couldn't have pictured a more perfect evening. Everyone was there, happy and healthy. He held hands with his mother and father as they looked over the towering plates of food. A roast chicken in the centre, Jackson’s favourite, surrounding by all the side dishes you could possibly need.

"I'd like to start things off by saying what I'm thankful for, if that's alright?" Jackson asked. Everyone nodded in agreement and Jackson's eyes lit up, he knew exactly what he wanted to say.

Imagine your character is watching Thanksgiving from an outside perspective and seeing what the holiday is like without them. (This is more definitely more patient driven- but it can also work for staff members who are far from home/on-campus!). How would they feel watching the holiday being celebrated without them?

Her fingertips pressed to the glass, her breath fogging up the pane as she rested her forehead against it’s surface. Her stomach swarmed with uneasiness as she watched her parents parade around the table, setting down the fancy dishes they only used for special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and her birthday. One plate. Two plates.

Payton hadn’t expected a memorial for her lack of attendance this Thanksgiving. She had missed the last one too and surely her parents were used to the quietness of the halls and how the floorboards no longer creaked late at night as no one was sneaking around trying to hoard packaged treats into her room.  Maybe it was just her vanity that led to her expecting a placement to be set for herself. Payton used to swear her parents would miss her too much if she was kept at Serenity, that she was confident they made her a ration of dinner and later fed the uneaten food to the stray cats that liked to sometimes live on her back porch. But, perhaps she was wrong. One fork. Two forks.

Payton’s mouth watered at the sight of the golden turkey elegantly perched in the center of the table, framed with bowls of stuffing and other treats she used to enjoy...back when she was home. With her family. They had never been big on large family gatherings, it was usually just the three of them, sitting together, laughing- passing around the extraordinarily large rations of food, joking about how the three of them would take months to eat it all. One cup. Two cups. 

Payton’s mother seemed to glide on air as she traipsed around the dining room, setting down silverware and appetizers- bowls of cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes. Her hair danced, catching the warm glow of the chandelier dangling above their table. Her father came in and gave her a sweet loving kiss, murmuring a “Happy Thanksgiving” against them before he moved to sit down. One chair. Two chairs.

Blue optics caught her chair in the corner of the room. Stacked on it her bookbag and other random, miscellaneous things. Her heart sank a bit at the sight of it so carelessly pushed aside- as if the empty wooden seat was throwing off the balance of the house. “I’m thankful for my raise,” her father had stated with a proud smile, some sauce stuck in the fuzz of his beard. Payton’s mother pointed at the spot on her own chin, in which he responded to the gesture with a laugh and the sheepish lifting of his napkin. 

“I’m thankful for our home. For you. Our wonderful life.”

Payton waited to hear her name or even some small mention of her existence but she didn’t. The pair continued to exchange cheesy and nostalgic vows of thankfulness in between the stuffing of their mouths and the small girl’s eyes helplessly watered. 

“But most of all-”

Payton stared at her mother as she gazed behind her to the chair in the corner, offering it a weak smile. 

“I’m thankful for our little princess.”

The painful sob of relief that managed to break through Payton’s chest molded quickly into a delighted laugh. They remembered her. 

“Of course. I’m thankful for her more than anything.” 

Happy tears now coated the blonde’s flushed face as she pressed her fingertips to her lips, watching her parents laugh with blurry eyes as they now began to exchange stories- talking about her and how much they missed her, how they planned to save her a piece of pie as they had the year before. 

3. Imagine your character is watching Thanksgiving from an outside perspective and seeing what the holiday is like without them. How would they feel watching the holiday being celebrated without them?

Jackson lay in bed, covers pulled up to his neck and began to drift off to sleep. It was the evening before Thanksgiving and there he was. Laying in a strange bed that wasn’t his own, locked in a hospital on a psychiatric ward being treated for Bipolar disorder instead of home with his family. It wasn’t long before he fell into a deep slumber and began to dream.

It was as if he was watching the Thanksgiving dinner on a TV screen. He could see every little thing that was going on but he couldn’t interact. He couldn’t reach out to hold his mother’s hand or laugh at his cousin Jessie as she told the same ridiculous jokes she always did. Jackson couldn’t even pet his cat whom he loved dearly - he could only look on in vain. 

There was a somber mood at the table as his mother went to set a place for him but was stopped in her tracks when she remembered that Jackson would not be joining them. The two sat down at the table beside the massive amount of food, Haggis, his cat running around at their feet. It would have been too much for all three of them to get through, without him there to help it looked like Mount Everest.

He couldn’t stand to watch but he didn’t dare to close his eyes in case the image disappeared. Jackson feared the longer he stayed in Serenity house, the longer he spent away, the more the image of his mother would begin to fade from his memory and he couldn’t possibly let that happen. He could picture the tears running down her face and cursed himself for not being there to dry them. He would give anything to stop the pain his mother had felt, taking her only child to hospital and having to leave him behind but he was helpless.

Jessie tried to comfort Jackson’s mother, but her best still wasn’t enough. He screamed as tears streamed down his face. There was a horrible pain in his chest as he let out every agonising emotion pressing down on his heart. What had he done? How could he have let this happen? Why wasn’t he there with them?

2. Who, or what, is your character most thankful for? Why are they so thankful for them/it? What significance does this person/thing have in your characters life? What would life be like without it?

Who am I most thankful for? Who could I never imagine life without? Who means the most to me in this entire world? Who would leave a hole in my life if they ever went away?

If I could imagine my perfect day. If I could be anywhere right now, anywhere in the whole world, I would be at home on my mother’s couch, telling her how thankful I am for her. We would be at her home in Seattle, surrounded by beautiful expanses of water, stunning mountain ranges and evergreen forests. We would have a warm fire going, watching her favourite films and listening to her favourite songs on repeat as we eat a wonderful home cooked meal. But none of that would matter, because I’d be with her and I could tell her just how much I love her.

I can’t imagine losing my mother. It’s so unfathomable to think about how much it would ruin me. I know that I wouldn’t be able to eat, or move, or breathe if she was gone but I can’t picture it in my mind, nor do I want to. I cannot even begin to think a life for myself that she isn’t a part of, let alone a world that doesn’t have her in it.

This is the woman who dedicated her life to mine. She raised me to be a good man, a strong man but to her I will always be her boy, no matter what happens. I could never even begin to thank her for everything she has done and for standing by me, even when things were hard. It’s not just the big things, though. Everything mattered to my mother. She would come to every football game when I was younger, every concert, every spelling contest. No matter how big or small an event it was, I could always count on my number one fan to be there cheering me on. 

My mother is my joy and my world and I aim every day to try and be the same for her. I’ve messed up, I haven’t been as good to her as I should have been but she is the most significant person in my life and she has a kindness in her that I can’t put into words. She forgives me no matter what, so I always know that as long as I try my best and keep pushing on, I will never lose her. 

1. Imagine your character never, ever came to Serenity and was still at home for the holiday. What would Thanksgiving be like for them back in their ‘normal’ life? Who would be there? What would they be eating? Where would Thanksgiving dinner be held? 

“We’re Scottish, Jackson! We’re not like that lot across the pond and we never will be! Of course we’re not going to celebrate Thanksgiving!” 

Jackson could never forget his father shouting at him that day, the anger in his voice. He was simply a curious boy, eight years old and asking an innocent question. His dad had been having a bad day at work, so Jackson didn’t press the issue and never mentioned the incident to his mother for fear of repercussions. For some reason though, even weeks later he just couldn’t get it out of his head. Many years later, however, Jackson was 20 years old and attending Idaho State University. His mother, Abigail lived in Washington, just down the street from their cousin, Jessie. His father was totally out of the picture and any thoughts involving him couldn’t have been further from his mind.

This wasn’t his first Thanksgiving, the three of them had celebrated together the year before but this time felt different for Jackson. 2015 had been rushed and disorganised. Jackson’s car broke down half way through the drive and had to get it fixed. Furthermore, his mother was settling in to a new house after moving out of their cousin’s house, which didn’t leave much time to sit down for a big dinner. Then to top it all off, they left Jessie to buy the food and she bought a turkey - Jackson hated turkey. This year, though, his mother had gone out of her way to buy him the biggest chicken that she could find. The fire was burning in her cosy little house , the table was set just how she liked it and the two people that Jackson cared about most were there. As she carried it out and Jackson sat down at the table to with his family he wanted to freeze time there and then, everything seemed so perfect.

"You’re a wonderful host, Mum” Jackson said with a wide grin. “Everything looks incredible! I can’t wait to get stuck in.”

His mother beamed with a smile that stretched ear to ear. “Stop trying to butter me up, I know you want both legs!” 

“Hey, you aren’t getting my leg!” Jessie shouted, trying to keep a serious face but failing as she burst into giggles.

“Who said the two of you are getting one?” Abigail said with a laugh. 

She walked over to the table and laid the last edition to the meal down in front of her seat before tucking herself in between Jackson and Jessie. She took Jackson’s face and gently held it in her hands.

“My boy, you are so wonderful. The only thing you’re father ever did right was help make something as brilliant as you. I love you,” Abigail said as a tear ran down her cheek.

Jackson grabbed a tissue and dried her tears.

Imagine your character is watching Thanksgiving from an outside perspective and seeing what the holiday is like without them.How would they feel watching the holiday being celebrated without them?

Nathan slowly turned his head to check the clock on the wall, before staring up at the ceiling again. 1am. Sleep just wouldn’t find him tonight, however all these thoughts had. The fact that it was Thanksgiving soon hit him like a truck and he gradually got lost in a daydream…

He could see them clearly now. His mother, his father. His grandparents, his uncles and aunts. His cousins. They were all gathered in his family’s winter cottage which wasn’t located very far from their permanent home. They were eating turkey, discussing, but never mentioning his name.

 His aunt Barbara was drunk as usual and blurting out personal stuff that everyone was better off not knowing. He laughed.  His cousin Robert was eating too much again, and his father was scolding him. Everyone seemed happy, his absence hadn’t affected them, right? Wrong.

It was then that he suddenly heard his mother’s bitter words, that silenced everyone that was present. “It’s the first year that Nathan isn’t with us.” His smile fell, as he realized that he could see his parents, but he hadn’t noticed them. He hadn’t spotted that they looked as if all life had been drained from them. The tears that started falling from his mother’s eyes right into her plate, caused Nathan physical pain in his chest.

 He sees his father squeezing her hand in a silent movement of encouragement, and he gives her a supportive smile. All his relatives have stopped talking and they’re looking at each other with tears in their eyes. Even his uncle George who was in the military, and everyone would say that “he’s as hard as a rock”, seems to be tearing up. They were all aware of the torture their boy had gone through, they weren’t apathetic to his absence, but they had chosen not to give up on their own lives, on their routine. Nathan was happy to see that. He hears his grandma’s soft voice. “Let’s pray for him to be well, healthy and reunited with us soon.” Everyone follows her lead and after a few moments of silence, they are back to their earlier moods, eating, drinking, laughing.

2. Who, or what, is your character most thankful for? Why are they so thankful for them/it? What significance does this person/thing have in your characters life? What would life be like without it?