Cliff and I have spent other Thanksgiving Days with just the two of us participating. I recall two of those times very well. On one occasion when our son was stationed in Germany and our daughter's family lived in Carthage, we went out to eat; that was better than nothing, I suppose. Another time, we crashed the party at his brother's house in Higginsville. If you like to celebrate with a crowd, that's a great place to go; you see kids of all ages there, and they are jubilant when they're together.
But this year takes the cake, doesn't it?
I'm cooking some of our favorite holiday foods anyway. Noodles, turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce from a can AND the cranberry salad my mom always made, which is more of a dessert than a salad. Corn from this year's garden. Sweet potatoes. You get the drift. Our daughter and her husband are going to come and get a share of the food to eat at home. It was tempting to go ahead with the usual family Thanksgiving dinner, but when experts are telling us "don't do it", I'll take their advice. I'll just think back on past Thanksgivings. My daughter and her husband in town are also alone, so they'll come here, get their dinner, and take it home to eat.
When I was growing up, we went to my maternal Grandma's. Her little house was filled to the brim and running over with relatives. Later on after Grandma was gone, we'd have two Thanksgiving dinners: One on the actual day, one on the weekend after, so we could celebrate with both mine and Cliff's parents. This year's Thanksgiving was going to feel different anyhow: After the grandson married, we had gatherings that included our family and his wife's family, and I liked that. Now that there's been a divorce, it's back to just our family again. Pictures from past Thanksgivings have been visible on the Echo Show in the kitchen all week, reminding me that holidays change in many ways, and change is normal.
Today, it's just us, with plenty of food. That's alright, I suppose. I'm getting used to "just us" this year. Yesterday I made one pumpkin pie and one Petty Aunt Pie. That's the extent of the desserts we'll have. If you happened to read about Petty Aunt Pie the other day and wondered what it tastes like, Cliff and I each had a small bite of when it was still warm: I will be making it again. It's delicious!
The calendar on my laptop keeps reminding me it's Thanksgiving, as if I didn't know. I'm getting very tired of the reminder.
Yesterday I saw a stranger standing in our yard. I watched him out the window for awhile; when I saw him calling someone on his cell phone, I decided it was time to find out what was going on. "May I help you?" I hollered. "Well, maybe," he answered. He told me he lives just down the road on 224 highway. His two poodles had run off and he was looking for them. Immediately he had my sympathy, because Gabe has caused me grief by going off someplace he shouldn't be, so many times. I told the fellow to give me his phone number so I could contact him if I saw the dogs; as I was writing down the number, I had a better idea, and asked him if he had Internet at home; he said yes.
"Go to the Wellington Community page on Facebook," I told him, "and post something about your dogs being lost. People do that all the time. You will have your dogs back before you know it."
Sure enough, Cliff was looking at Facebook later and saw the man's post; people were holding the dogs, waiting to find out who they belonged to. Cliff said as soon as the guy posted on the board, that person responded. It makes me happy to know I helped someone find his dog.
I think I'll go make the noodles so they'll have some drying time. I'm tired of being reminded by my computer that it's Thanksgiving Day anyhow. I truly am thankful that we've made it through the pandemic unscathed so far. As far as the weirdness of 2020, it can't be much worse than holidays were in times of war, or during the Depression of the thirties.
Happy Thanksgiving, faithful readers. I hope there are no typos in this hurriedly composed drivel, but if so, I'll fix them later.
We will be eating alone, too, but it will be better than last year, when my husband was down with ankle surgery and I was too worn out from caring for him that I cooked nothing. We will have a turkey breast and a sweet potato dish and a few other items. I am happy to be alone with him.
ReplyDeleteI will eat over across the Meadow.
ReplyDeleteAfter Larry passed someone was sitting in my driveway in his old truck and would not leave. It was a little scary. He said I don’t want anything as he was eating sitting there. I stood and waited on the front porch, waved by several times and finally he took his leave.
On Thanksgiving day?
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you & your husband, Donna. What a nice animals-found story. Those always cheer my heart, no matter the day. Thank you for your part in that happy ending. Yes, I'm cooking today too and we'll take huge plates over to our son and daughter-in-law in town. But that's the extent of our Thanksgiving too. I wasn't going to cook but then I thought "Gee, there's the 3 of us here and it IS Thanksgiving, after all." I got up this morning and put on a comfy dress, earrings and a Thanksgivng brooch... and then promptly took it all off and opted for my everyday t-shirt and coveralls. I have to fry bacon for the 7-layer salad, amongst other things, and I was hot enough as it is without having to add an apron to the mix. So that's where I draw the line. I'll do Thanksgiving food but not "Thanksgiving clothes". :-) Have a good day. ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteI'm a little leery of the Thanksgiving dinner. It was to be just John and Leslie and me but then their son and his two children and perhaps his wife decided to come. That will make six or seven of us. I hope that will be safe.
ReplyDeleteIt's a risk. We've been allowing relatives who live nearby to come in almost since this thing started, but I wanted to play it safer, knowing with so many people getting together, there will be a lot more people exposed. Just keep your distance and I imagine you'll be fine.
DeleteYour food sounds wonderful although I've never had noodles at Thanksgiving. I just read about that pie too; were we on the same website? Every Thanksgiving/holiday is different: bigger, smaller, sad, happy. 2020 is disturbing and frightening, but as you pointed out, other times in our history and lives have also been like that.
ReplyDeleteWell, they had it on the Today show. But I found it on Post Secret first.
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving! Your meal sounds delicious. I may have to try the Petty Pie, but think I would cut back on the sugar. Apple pie is a favorite around here.
ReplyDeleteIt's good, but Cliff said not as good as plain old apple pie. I agree. But it's something different.
DeleteWe went to my daughter's for Thanksgiving dinner, which is the noon meal to me. She did most of the cooking but I made homemade butter shortbread and butter pecan shortbread, and a pan of yeast rolls. There were only 3 people there besides family that we've been around all through the pandemic, and one of them has had the virus and recovered, so I'm hoping we kept it as safe as we could.We still kept it under 10 people. And the other people are on my son in law's side, so they've been around them all through the pandemic. We really enjoyed the fellowship and laughed so much. I hadn't seen my sister since March 11th and it did our hearts good to be together.
ReplyDeleteI bought the stuff to make the Petty Aunt Pie and hope to make it in a few days after most of the Thanksgiving leftovers have been used up.
All in all it's been a good day but just like most of 2020, it's been very different from most holidays past.
I decided not to attend church this month because of the warnings. I have to say my mood isn't as good when I don't go to church. It's my way of starting the week off right, I suppose. It just seems like time drags, and it goes faster and better if I spend those two hours at church..
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