Thursday, November 25, 2021

Thanksgiving

 It is Thanksgiving morning, the turkey is in, the cranberry sauce done, the relish trays and dip made, and two loaves of bread (one pumpkin, one zucchini - both from the garden) ready to be sliced and placed on the platter. These things are my contribution to my sister's family Thanksgiving. She always makes a ham, a veritable mountain of mashed potatoes, and a few pies. My brother in law usually puts together his special bean recipe. Everyone else who comes brings a dish to pass. Blessing is said at one, and then people eat, moving along the tables as if they are at the world's most spectacular all-you-can-eat buffet. 

I'm looking forward to it. We missed it last year. I guess that I don't have to explain why. 

Last night was a flurry of activity. I got off work at 5, and I was just tired, but I couldn't stop. I had work to be done. My daughter and Don came, and I groaned a little, because I had so much to do, but I set them down at the table with knives and set them to work, and they did so cheerfully. The relish trays were made up, and the stuffing was diced up. I focused on making the bread. Don simmered the celery and onions together in the butter, and made the cranberry sauce. By the time that the breads went into the oven, every thing was in place to stuff the turkey. Everyone was washing dishes as they were dirtied, so once that turkey was stuffed and in its roaster ready to be popped in the oven at 6:30, all that was left was to whisk off the old table cloth, shake it out, and throw it in the hamper and replace it with a new one. 

By then William was hungry again, so he had a turkey sandwich as we sat around the table and visited. 

That's something to be thankful for there...I was done by 8:30. Working alone, I'd have been working until midnight. 

I woke up at 4:30, as usual, but I willed myself back to sleep. Finally, in the end, I was sleeping so soundly that when 6:30 rolled around, it was Tim who got up and put the turkey in the oven. 

When I finally did get around to getting up, it was nearly 8:30. It felt good to sleep in, and it feels good to be sitting in front of the computer leisurely drinking my coffee while turkey roasts in the oven. 

Another thing: my hibiscus is blooming again. It has been putting on quite a show. Nearly every week or so, I come out to another showy salmon colored bloom. It lasts for a day, and then drops, but the thing is covered with buds all of them seeming to be queued up and waiting for their chance to shine. My begonia is blooming, and the Thanksgiving cactus that belonged to my great grandmother is putting on its own show. In the livingroom, the African violets and the cyclamen sit on the antique treadle sewing machine, putting on their display for their corner of that room. After a summer in the green house, my plants are crazy, vines vining, spiderplants spidering, and every green thing showing exuberant new growth. I think that I will have flowers all winter long! 

That's it really, just a quiet morning, appreciating every good thing that I've got to be thankful for. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Even if you're not eating turkey, I hope you take a moment to count your blessings. 

17 comments:

  1. “I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.” – Henry David Thoreau

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  2. I love that Lynn. I know that I am a lucky woman. I will tell you that again and again, but there really is something profound in being able to sit down and savor the knowledge, to feel it from your soul.

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  3. It looks like you are set for a good day!!

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  4. Happy Thanksgiving! How wonderful to have help to lighten the load. Enjoy all that delicious food!

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  5. Happy Thanksgiving! Sounds like you will have a fabulous feast to share! My sister is hosting at my home so I have less dishes to prepare this year. We eat around 5:30 pm. I am looking forward to it!
    Have a wonderful day!

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  6. As I write this you are minutes away from the blessing and digging into the food. We just got back from delivering 50 meals to the needy around town so ours will probably be closer to two but since it will just be the four of us, it really doesn't matter that much. Happy Thanksgiving to you!

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  7. Happy Thanksgiving to you too. We don't have a celebration like that here in the UK and I always think it sounds splendid. We have to wait for Christmas.

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  8. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

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  9. I hope y'all had a good day, Debby.

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  10. We all have so many things to be thankful for but don't always realize it. We worry about the little things and forget the blessings we have. just opening our eyes each day, being able to stand up, having coffee in the house and the list just keeps going. I spent Thanksgiving on a farm in the country. It was two gates to open just getting there. Our family ate under the trees around a campfire while the cows gathered around the fence to see what was going on. 100 acres in the middle of no where and it was wonderful. So much around us to be thankful for.

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  11. We don't really have the equivalent of Thanksgiving, but it would be good if we did. Perhaps we need to invent a special day?
    I'm enjoying Loren Eiseley so far - what a great writer he is.

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  12. Oh, I knew that you would! I really envy you reading that book for the very first time. I got Laurie Lee today!

    You're right Ellie!

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  13. Sounds like a peaceful, reflective morning after your Thanksgiving lie-in but what I don't get is how William could be having a turkey sandwich the day before the turkey was roasted?

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  14. Looks like you have a lot to be blooming thankful for. I'm so glad you had such a lovely day.

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  15. YP: because that is the sandwich meat that was on sale at the deli when I bought a weeks worth of lunch packing.

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  16. For some totally unknown reason I failed to clock that it was Thanksgiving 2 days ago. Usually at least one or two of my American friends have mentioned it but I've been rather pre-occupied for a few days so I now have some catching up to do and some forgiveness to request. I hope you all had a great day. From the sound of the feast being prepared you had a lot to feed.

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  17. Bravo for your organized Thanksgiving preparations! Sounds like you had everything in hand. I hope you had a wonderful day. Glad to hear the flowers are putting on a show!

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