Friday, November 28, 2014

Times they are a changin' / Happy Thanksgiving


"Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way"


Thanksgiving week is probably the one time of year I really, really miss living near family. I miss the memories being made, good and otherwise. But it is also nice to have others to share the burden with. 
If you spend Thanksgiving with others the drill is normally that you provide part of the meal. This lightens the load on the host family. Well, when you spend the day with just immediate family guess who gets to shop, pay for, prepare, and clean up the ENTIRE meal? (I am sounding a bit like the Little Red Hen). Yep, since we moved away from Tampa and the joy of having our family nearby I have had the pleasure of preparing the whole shebang. 

That first year I think I tried to make everything on Thanksgiving. I probably made the desserts the day before. It wasn't long before I realized that with one oven and a huge turkey inside the oven for most of the day that cooking anything else in there was going to be nearly impossible. So the next year I planned ahead and that's when the feast became a several day long ordeal. 
As a side note, that first year I also quickly realized that I had maybe one casserole dish. I don't know how many casseroles you enjoy with Thanksgiving meal, but one wasn't going to cut it. So I went out and got an entire set of Corning Ware casserole dishes in different sizes and shapes with lids. Still use them and they will probably get dispersed with my estate some day as they indestructible. Most of them just get pulled out once a year though. 

Here we are 13 years later, still celebrating with "just us," but it is different now. Kevin is currently living in Iowa while we try to sell the house. He got home Wednesday afternoon and will go back Sunday.  The boys are growing up. Hunter's girlfriend brings the number up to six around the table (8 if you count the four-legged fur babies under the table). Jackson works at the RTJ golf course and had to stay until the last idiot  golfer came in from the course. He got home around 5 and Hunter and Shelby got back from her mom's around 5:30. All that to say that I had to adjust my cooking schedule. Instead of eating at 3ish where I would normally get up and put the bird in the oven bright and early then settle in to watch the parade I had to wait, it seemed like forever. AND I haven't quite mastered the timing with the convection roasting thing. So Mr. Tom was still done quite early. I did have plenty of time to make the gravy though without everyone breathing down my neck. So that was nice. It turned out to be a really good batch too. All in all a very quiet day around here. 

Another thing that is different, I didn't take a single picture yesterday of the bounty or the family. I used to be almost pathological about taking the pictures. I guess after so many years the meals all look the same. I could just use an old one and nobody would know any better. 
One more difference, since we ate late there was no card playing after dinner. The older kids scattered to go shopping and the movies. I personally wish the stores would stay closed until Friday so I don't go out. But they must give the masses what they want and as long as the masses are coming in the doors spending money the stores will be open. 

So I think this is a transition year. Next year will be even that much more different. Hunter will stay in Huntsville when we relocate to Des Moines and Jackson will hopefully be in college somewhere. I really don't want to think about them being so far away.  And life marches on.....

How did you spend Turkey Day? Loads of crazy family or a quiet day? Either way I hope you are feeling blessed and content. 

Hugs,

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