I've been having Papa Winchester feels and since Thanksgiving is just around the corner I've decided to write a fluffy Winchester family Thanksgiving.

I really believe that John wasn't a bad father. He had gotten dealt a bad hand and did the best he could. He made mistakes and probably could've done better but he tried and with all the bad things that happened I truly believed he did the best he could for his small family.

Okay, first time I've ever written anything in John's POV. If you've read any of my fanfics I mostly write in Dean's POV with Sam's and Cas' thrown into the mix. I hope I don't do too horribly.

Hope you like. Any mistakes are my own.

John Winchester was sore, bruised, and tired. The last hunt should've been easy, a salt and burn. Turned out he was wrong and it was a demon. Five days later and after being thrown around trying to do an exorcism he just wanted to go to the run-down apartment he had left his boys and be able to rest a week or two.

John was twenty minutes away when he saw a Boston Market announcing a full Thanksgiving dinner for those who didn't want to cook, complete with turkey and sides. John paused for a moment. The last time any of them had had a real thanksgiving was the year before Sam was born. He doubted Dean even remembered and Sam…Well his youngest had never had a real Thanksgiving.

John knew he wasn't the best father no matter how hard he tried to be. It was difficult to be considering what he knew and training his boys to be able to look after themselves and fight the things that most people thought were myths and legends. Plus, their Thanksgiving usually consisted of KFC, John watching the football game on whichever crappy TV they had at the moment and then getting drunk on the couch. It wouldn't hurt to give his boys a good Thanksgiving this year…

Without any more thought John pulled up to the parking lot and got out. He hoped they still had something for a Thanksgiving dinner. John waited in line for the six customers in front of them, all of them picking up a Thanksgiving dinner. John suddenly felt nervous. What if there truly was nothing to take home to his boys? It's not as if they were excepting anything but John had really gotten his heart set on this. Finally, he was the one on the counter where a bored looking teenager with pimples acknowledged him

"Welcome to Boston Market, may I take your order?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you had any more Thanksgiving dinners left."

"Let me ask?"

John waited for what felt like hours, drumming his fingers impatiently on the counter until the cashier came back.

"So good news and bad news, the good news is that we have a turkey left, gravy, and corn. Unfortunately, we don't have much else in sides. Biscuits will be out in about forty minutes if you want to wait for them."

"No, yeah, I'll wait. Is there any way you could hold the turkey for me while I did a bit of errands."

"Yeah man, no problem, just need your name and number." After that was done, John drove to the nearest store he could find that happened to be a Safeway. John bought a pound of mac and cheese, mash potatoes and two pies, one pumpkin, one apple. He also bought a green bean casserole and a sweet potato casserole with marshmallows. He went back to pick up the turkey and freshly baked biscuits with the other things and headed towards his sons.

John actually felt excitement coursing through him imaging his sons' reaction. He imagined Dean would be happy with just the pies but Sammy…Sammy was another story altogether. His twelve years old son was starting to rebel against John, always sulking and finding ways to butt heads with John. John loved both of his sons but sometimes he wished Sam wasn't so much like him. John shook his head. At least for tonight he hoped he and youngest didn't fight. He wanted this Thanksgiving to be a family event with laughter and jokes and stomach aches from overeating.

John parked the car and walked the three flights of stairs to where Sam and Dean were. He struggled to get the door unlock but thankfully Dean opened up. John almost laughed at Dean's expression from seeing the food John was carrying. Then he felt bad because nobody should be surprised to see a Thanksgiving dinner during Thanksgiving.

"Are you going to stare at me with that ridiculous expression are you going to help?" John didn't have to say it twice before Dean was helping John bring the food in.

"Where's your brother?"

"In the room, reading, I was out here watching the pre-game." John nodded and called out for Sammy. Sam came running out of his room in pajamas and hair disheveled. His eyes widened when he saw the food on the table.

"Happy Thanksgiving Sammy."

"Is this for us?"

"'Course, sport, who else would it be for?" Sam gave a big, toothy grin and without warning he attacked John with a sneak hug. John was surprised for a moment before he recuperated the hug. Sammy was so small for his age and barely reached John to his lower stomach. The hug felt nice. Sam let go of John a few seconds later.

"I'm going to put on nicer clothes and then set the table." John watched with amusement as his youngest ran into the room, excitement making him go faster than normal.

"Well, that twerp is happy. What brought this on?"

John shrugged, "Just thought we could have a nice dinner for once."

Dean's face softened to make him look like the teenager he truly was, "Thanks dad."

Twenty minutes later the table was set up and a preteen and teenager were bouncing on their chairs waiting for the food. John curved the turkey as best he could and put some on all three plates and then they passed around the sides to get as much as they wanted.

"Who wants to say grace?" John didn't really believe in God but he wanted this to be as normal as possible. He heard a groan from his eldest and a 'me' from his youngest. Sam said grace and then the three Winchesters started digging in. Dinner was light, full of laughter and joy. The boys had gotten into a mini-food fight before John broke it up but even then it was more in a fun way than anything. Jokes had been said and there was a sense of closeness. They finished the evening with watching the game and then tucking Sam into bed as he had fallen asleep. Both Dean and John put away left overs.

"I'm going to bed, dad," Dean seemed to hesitate for a moment before going to hug John. John was surprised but put his arms around Dean.

"Thanks, dad."

"No problem." Dean bid John good night and went to sleep. John smiled after his son. Tomorrow there will be battles and sorrows but tonight, at the very least, they were just a normal family.