Thanksgiving 2010

Sorry, I've been in survival mode lately. The other day I didn't even check my e-mail all day long which is weird because I am OCD about it even though I rarely get anything worth reading. Of course that was the day that a couple of people were trying to get a hold of me...

Any way. Survival mode. Cooking and cleaning and decorating. Caramels and caramels and more caramels. And John is in DC for a couple more weeks.

And I think I need to see a physical therapist for my shoulder. Luckily they have one inside the catz building. (all they need is a revolving door- I wonder what percentage of business is people hurting themselves while working out at catz).

Last night, I finally started Madison's Colonial house for this big social studies project she has going on. It's due a week from today. Parent homework. Ugh. We've had over a month. The letter they sent home said we could use the Thanksgiving 4 day weekend to "put the finishing touches on it". I had a bit of a genius idea, well, I thought it was genius, but I am afraid it will turn out to take much more work than I thought, and not look that great in the end, so we'll see just how genius I am in a week.

John's bonus was a little bigger than expected so he went shopping on black Friday and dragged me along. I took a nap in a corner of Dick's sporting goods while he picked out a gun safe. Oh and although I have never even laid one finger on a gun before, Madison and I are now the proud co-owners of a pink (yes, I said pink) 22 rifle. or whatever they're called. yay. That's almost as exciting as the fact that because of space and weight issues, the best place to keep the beast is on my side of the closet. double yay. (is my sarcasm coming through okay? I know that sarcasm doesn't translate very well in the written word, and I'd hate for anyone to think I am thrilled about either of these prospects...)

wow. I got off topic. I just noticed the title of what I meant to write about. Thanksgiving 2010.
It was good. It was really, really, good. We had no family coming to visit, and no where else to go, so we got together with some good friends for Thanksgiving dinner. Personally I think that is the way to go. Thanksgiving can be hard for me. In theory, the concept is wonderful. A day to give thanks. A day to think about the things you are grateful for. A whole month in fact. And then you get together with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and eat good food that everyone helps prepare, and enjoy each other's company, and celebrate traditions and all that family togetherness stuff. In theory. In reality for me Thanksgiving means spending the entire day in the kitchen mostly by myself, making a giant meal for 5 other people (2 of which are happy with just the orange rolls, and maybe potatoes and green beans (I cook them in bacon fat). And everyone else watches TV, plays on the wii, helps out sporadically , whines about being bored and wanting to play with friends, fights with siblings, wonders for the umpteenth time when dinner is going to be ready, then finally, finally, we sit down to eat, give thanks for what we have, proceed to stuff ourselves silly, then ten minutes later every one gets up and walks away leaving me with dishes and piles of leftovers to find space for in the fridge. (okay, so John has been very helpful with this part lately, but in years past it has predominantly been just me). And somehow while I try to concentrate on feelings of thankfulness, those feelings have a way of getting pushed aside by feelings of irritation, and being ridiculously tired.

Anyway, every year I push the idea of turkey sandwiches on a beach somewhere. It's turkey. It's family togetherness. It's definitely memorable. We can be just as thankful on a beach somewhere as we can at the dinner table.

No beach this year, but we did get invited to our friends the Wood's home. They deep fried a turkey (never had that before, yum) made some amazing apple and sausage stuffing that I need to get the recipe for and made potatoes and yams and pumpkin pie. I brought the orange rolls, green beans (mmmm bacon fat) and a raspberry pie. I know, a raspberry pie isn't very Thanksgivingy but that's what John wanted. "You can't go wrong with raspberry pie". The kids ate in the kitchen, and the grownups ate in the dining room. It was lovely. The kids played, the grownups talked, we all ate our fill and then some. And I felt very, very, grateful. And only a little tired. (love that tryptophan)