OK, a few did manage to watch some of the ballgames

Turkey pardoning aside, Thanksgiving is a time for political puff-pieces. So, in retrospect of this year’s food-filled holiday of grace, here’s a well-deserved “puff-piece” for our hard-working and fierce campaigning Statehouse candidates …

Thanksgiving provided Colorado’s politicos – many of them still recovering from the campaign trail – an opportunity to take a break from daily political tasks and instead overeat exorbitant amounts of delicious home-cooking and spend some valuable time with friends and family. The downtime arrived to the embrace of welcoming arms. Black Friday? Phhbt! It’s got nothing on Election 2016.

The Colorado Statesman caught up with a few of your state legislators to see what exactly it was they had been up to during the holiday. Some had a whole lot to be thankful for, celebrating wins in competitive districts after successfully kicking it through the ever-moving goal post of the 2016 election season, while others were just appreciative in the more traditional holiday sense. Here’s what they had to say:

After winning a close and contentious general election campaign, Democrat Rep.-elect Dafna Michaelson Jenet will soon take her chair in the House, representing the people of District 30. After two decades of serving in various leadership roles for the non-profit industry, Jenet said she is excited to start tackling the new challenges ahead. But first, a bit of calm before the storm: Jenet said she enjoyed a pleasant Thanksgiving dinner party hosted by a close friend.

“On Thursday we went to my friend’s house because she knew that there was no way after the campaign that I’d be able to pull-off Thanksgiving,” said Jenet.

Winning the holiday spirit prize, Jenet said the concept of Thanksgiving Day is one her family espouses not just once a year, but every day.

“Thanksgiving is just what we do every day, but on speed,” exclaimed Jenet. “I am thankful for the countless number of people who came together as we went through this election cycle. The friends, our family and neighbors all came together to help with our campaign. Not to mention all the people who answered the door when I knocked on it, came out on the porch and were willing to talk to me.”

When the new legislative session begins, Jenet said she is most excited to develop legislation that can create educational and career opportunities for residents. “I first want to increase education funding and foster business growth so we can serve our youth and ensure that they are coming out of school ready to join a thriving workforce,” Jenet said.

Having been selected to fill the vacant Republican House District 37 seat earlier in the year, Republican state Rep. Cole Wist (R-Centennial) converted his incumbency into an election win.

Even while having a full plate of turkey to eat on Thanksgiving, Wist knew in the back of his mind he will soon have a full plate of work to address as the next session commences. While many policy items are on his menu, Wist said he is most eager to manage the budget, place stricter limits on statewide spending and diminish governmental influence on small businesses.

Wist told The Colorado Statesman he enjoyed a fun Thanksgiving with his extended family, and had placated his feasting guilt with some good-old-fashioned exercise. “On Thanksgiving, I ran my neighborhood 5k in the morning to justify my failure to resist a second round of dessert later in the day.”

“I gave thanks to God for all of my wonderful blessings, including my beautiful wife and our three daughters,” Wist said, “and for the privilege of living in the greatest country in the world.”

State Sen. Nancy Todd (D-Aurora) had plenty of reasons to settle into an easy chair this Thanksgiving holiday. But she didn’t – not her style. After working as a school teacher for 25 years and serving as a state legislator for 15 years, Todd may have just won her last-ever campaign due to term limits, but her passion and energy are far from gone. After runnnig her own re-election campaign while helping other fellow Democrats in more competitive seats this election season, Todd still mustered the enthusiasm to fulfill another marathon by traveling around the country to see her family and, of course, attend a conference – with Todd, there’s always a conference, always some work involved.

“We went to Austin, Texas, to visit our oldest son and his family,” said Sen. Todd.  “Then I had a conference in D.C., and then we went to Kansas City to visit our youngest son and his family.  And so we kind of did pre-thanksgiving with the family. During the campaign season you don’t get the time with family that you would like, and so we just made that happen.”

Todd said she then unwound by spending Thanksgiving Day at home with her husband and reflected on the many things that she is grateful for.

“We always instilled our families with the value of having an attitude of gratitude,” recited Todd.  “I am very thankful for my family and great husband who I can spend my life with. I am also grateful for my health, being an American, and living in a great country where freedom is such a responsibility, but such a gift.”

Todd said she too is eager to begin a new session and to pass meaningful legislation. “My hope is to rectify a solution so we can provide our constituents with transportation and infrastructure projects. Then I’d like to find reconciliation so we can provide better funding for education and address the many challenges of education.”

State Rep. Yeulin Willett (R-Grand Junction) probably could have sat on his couch all election cycle and still have easily won re-election in his heavily Republican House District 54. But Willett said he exerted arduous effort to help other Republicans and party leaders fight for their House seats.

After Election Day, Willett celebrated Thanksgiving by traveling to Arizona, where he took part in some outdoor activities and ate festive meals with his immediate and extended family.

“I went to Scottsdale,” said Willett. “It’s our family tradition, my mom lived down there for years and used to host Thanksgiving with all of our families and kids, and so we still do that. This year we did some bicycling, and my sister’s family lives in Prescott so we saw them as well.

“I am thankful for our God, my four kids and beautiful wife, and for this country. I’m really thankful to our Founding Fathers for the studying that they did to put together our amazing representative republic,” Willet added.

In terms of his plans for the upcoming legislative session, Willet said he’s ready to hit the ground running. “I am interested in some criminal justice matters, including the continuation of the good work we did last year with juvenile sexting,” said Willett. “I am also going to be looking into severance taxes and what we can do to equalize the revenue flow to our local governments because that is an important issue to the West Slope.”

State Rep. Alec Garnett (D-Denver) is the leader of the House Majority Project, so he was plenty busy during the election season – and he has plenty to be thankful for … like picking up three seats in the House for his caucus. Garnett said he enjoyed some down time with his family over the Thanksgiving holiday. He also coined a unique acronym that perfectly describes why so many people relish Thanksgiving.

“I call it the 3 F’s,” Garnett told The Statesman. “Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because of the 3 F’s, including great family, great food, and great football all day long.” Garnett added that he especially enjoyed the family portion of that formula.

“On Thanksgiving morning my wife and I took our one-year old boy and our dogs to Cheeseman Park. Then we headed up to Boulder where my parents live. Many members of my family and my wife’s family were there, so it was great for us all to come together, and then my mom cooked because she is a master turkey expert and she’s been cooking the turkey for the last 15 years.

“I’m thankful for my family, my wife and my son. But I’m also very thankful for the Colorado voters. We have an intelligent electorate, we had a great voter turnout and over 70 percent is something everybody in Colorado should be thankful for,” Garnett said.

Garnett said his focus for the 2017 session is a bipartisan one. “I’ve been mostly thinking through some bipartisan ideas. I have been reaching out to people from the Republican caucus across the aisle to talk through what bills we can work on together, because with the makeup of the House and the Senate we are going to be in an environment where bipartisanship rules the day again.”

Winning his re-election easily in his heavily Republican district and then achieving status as the newly minted House minority leader, state Rep. Patrick Neville (R-Castle Rock) has a lot to be thankful for this year.

Needless to say, throughout the campaign season Neville was busy helping Republican candidates – many of whom would soon be casting House leadership votes – with their campaigns. And Neville seems to be even busier now than before Election Day. In the upcoming session, Neville said he plans on adamantly promoting conservative policies and urging Democrats to reach across the aisle to pass bipartisan legislation.

But even while working hard to transition into his new leadership role, Neville released a statement to articulate his thoughts and sentiments regarding his Thanksgiving holiday.

“Thanksgiving is a day when friends and families come together to celebrate and give thanks for the many blessings we have. Yet as we take time to enjoy this special holiday, please be mindful of those who are less fortunate and consider taking time to volunteer or donate food to help those in need.”

“I would like to thank all the service members and first responders whose service to the nation prevents them from being home this year. As a veteran who served abroad, I remember how difficult it was to spend this day away from my family. This year, I ask everyone to say a prayer for all of those sacrificing their time to keep our nation safe.”

Once and again state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger is preparing for the January swearing-in where she will formerly retake her Senate District 19 seat, representing the Arvada and Westminster areas.  After winning one of the most contentious and combative campaigns in the state, Zenzinger gladly embraced the ability to kick her feet back for a day with her children to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday.

“My sister lives up in Erie, so it was great to spend time with her, her children and my children,” explained Zenzinger.  “It was also wonderful to sit back, relax and watch the ballgames.”

Winning such a difficult election also gave Zenzinger an extra helping of gratitude to spread around. “We’re most thankful for the volunteers, donors and supporters of our campaign. They were truly remarkable for coming together to help get me over the finish line successfully, and really, we wouldn’t have been able to do that if it wasn’t for them.”

Zenzinger said she is also thankful for the sacrifices of her family. “I am very thankful for my family,” said Zenzinger. “It’s a lot to put up with when you have somebody in the family running in such a hotly contested race, and I’m thankful that I have two children and a fiancé that support me. And then I’m thankful for the voters who placed their trust in me, and I’m definitely hoping that I can live up to their expectations and really tackle the issues we have in our communities.”

Never one to shy away from talking policy, Zenzinger outlined a few thoughts for the 2017 session. “I’m most excited to address attainable housing because it’s an issue I heard repeatedly in my community and there are so many things that are related to it.

“I’m also excited about education because new federal legislation really relieved the states of some mandates and put more back into the hands of the states, so there might be some interesting and innovative ideas that we can pick up.”

Perhaps one Colorado Republican with the most (political) reason to be thankful this holiday season, former state Rep.-turned Sen.-elect Kevin Priola fought a heated campaign to win his new seat in Senate District 25, where he will continue representing the Adams County area. His victory wound up being a pivotal win, locking in a Republican majority in the Senate by a narrow, 18-17 margin.

It would be hard to find a more perfect way to celebrate such a big victory than the way the Priola family celebrated. Whereas athletes shouting ‘I’m going to Disney World’ after victories is just a playful tradition that no one takes seriously, Priola took the concept literally, taking his family on a road trip to Disney World for their Thanksgiving break.

While in the midst of enjoying his Thanksgiving holiday, Priola told The Colorado Statesman, “When I give thanks to the Almighty on Thanksgiving and every other day, I make sure to remember our men and women in uniform.”

When Priola returns to Denver and moves into his new office in the Senate, he said he plans on developing bills that reduce governmental spending and relieve excessive regulations.

A newcomer to the General Assembly, Rep.-elect Jeff Bridges (D-Cherry Hills) also enjoyed having a moment to rest from the campaign season and prepare for the new legislative session.  After serving in various public sector and governmental roles, Bridges fought off fellow Democratic and Republican competition to represent Colorado’s House District 3.

Bridges said he’s excited to provide debt-free college opportunities for students, reform the tax code to benefit small businesses, and invest in renewable energy programs to create clean energy for communities and well-paying jobs for workers. But Bridges wasn’t all down to business with The Statesman. He embraced Thanksgiving as a welcome reprieve after his difficult and competitive campaign season (and scored some points), stating, “After one of the toughest primaries in the state followed by one of the toughest generals, I am enjoying Thanksgiving alone with my saintly wife.”