Thanksgiving muse

My daughter tells me that all I do is complain.....well, don't read it then.

I need someplace to let out my feelings and sometimes it's here that I do it.

That said...Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was wonderful. Not that I had that much to do with it. The deal was my daughter, Toni, would do the work if she could use my house. Now that I think of it, it's not much of a deal for her - her friends didn't come or weren't invited. But it was mostly family
and adopted family.

The numbers fluctuated right up until the last minute. This one could make it but then not; that one could come but would bring 3 extra people (actually 7 people at the last minute which changed to 4 at the last minute).
Meanwhile I invited the next door neighbors who had no place to go.
We ended up with about 20 people!

I must admit to being exhausted just by the preparations for the preparations. Long before the first guest entered the house, I was pooped.
But Toni, G-d love her, chugged along for hours on her feet. Getting things set up - cooking and baking both her dishes and mine and moving furniture with her Father.

We ended up with two long tables and borrowed chairs from all over. But there was enough seating and elbow room and tons of food. We forgot the salad until the last minute when everyone was already full, so we had enough for grazing stock leftover.

We had a second turkey which was our "emergency turkey" which never got cut into. My son-in-law couldn't deal with Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes so, he got mashed potatoes and was the only one, I think who ate them.

My daughter-in-law had the opportunity to experiment - she loves to cook - and made some sumptuous dishes which everyone wanted recipes for. A carrot souffle to die for, roasted veggies which I thought were wonderful.
And apple tart I gave up my "diet" for! That was a mistake, because with me one "slip" and I'm off to the races.

Anyway, we had food, wine and music. Toni and her family brought guitars and, who knew, most of the guys could play the guitar and it was delightful.

My neighbors fit in pretty well. They have two little kids - a boy I adore, named Kai and a little girl named Nella - who is very, very shy - except when she isn't. One day she forgot to be shy with me and flung herself into my arms and hugged me extensively. I was so aghast, I keep wondering who she thought I was......she's never done that before or since for that matter.

I think my neighbor (who is Polish) misses her home, her parents and her friends and, even though they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas is just around the corner and all that entails for Christian people.

My grandchildren (the two older ones) each baked a pie, which disappeared without too much trouble. The only problem was I forgot to put whipping cream on the shopping list, so globs of it weren't available for some of the desserts. No-one seemed to mind.

For years my sistera-in-law and I did Thanksgiving at each other's houses.
We all knew exactly what to bring and we all looked forward to it. But one by one, we have got older and found it necessary to turn it over to the younger generation. But the younger generation have problems of their own. Some live at a distance and can't afford to make the trip. Some have small houses and can't squeeze the whole contingent in. Some just don't want to do it.

I think ALL the cousins remember the big parties we had with fond memories. I hope the grandchildren have the same feeling. All MY grandchildren were there and there are two clusters. Mia and Marcus at 13 and 1 0 and Dahlia and Micah at 2 1/2 and 1 1/2. Everyone seemed to get along.

Micah is the youngest but he's a little ball of fire. Talks up a storm - three word sentences (just like his Mom) and cute enough to eat.

Dahlia is the lovely little imp. Mommy and Daddy's girl unless they aren't available and then Nana will do.

We all went to the Dicken's Fair on Sunday after Thanksgiving and had our picture taken in period costume. Oh my Gosh - those little boys looked adorable. I can hardly wait to see the picture.

I found it uncomfortable in my "costume", perched on a low couch - and sitting while everyone got their costume together but the end result is well worth it, I'm sure. It's always amazing that even though you are only wearing the front of the costume, and bits and pieces of things to look like hats, scarves, headpieces etc. The end result looks great.

There must be a message there about life. I'll think about it.

I'm hoping to go back to the Fair next weekend. I really didn't get to see all the things I wanted to. Too much chasing babies around, locating adults for lunch or watching performances of one sort and another. My grandson was in a demonstration of fencing which was pretty good - at least to my eyes.

But I want to look at all the jewelry, glass decor, odds and ends of various things which are expensive and fairly useless.

We took Micah to the Sonoma Train Station on Saturday - a place where we often took Mia and Marcus in their younger days. It had been raining and cold, but cleared up enough to ride the train and really enjoy the "scenery".
Micah was thrilled - what is it with little boys and trains?

We also walked through the Sonoma plaza and the ducks and egrets put on a show for us. I guess they like cold, wet days. I liked it too after I bought a fuzzy warm sweater from my favorite "Church Mouse Thrift Shop". $6 and I was warm the rest of the day - and today too.

I remember when we first moved here we took my Mother with us to Sonoma and she and I were cold and bought sweaters at that Thrift Shop.
Same thrill.....a very nice fun purchase for very little money. We bought Micah a fire engine. Mostly because he wouldn't let go of it. But it was a good toy for him.

The weather continues cold and my fuzzy sweater is getting a lot of wear.
Frost everywhere in the morning. Bird baths frozen solid. Electric blanket getting turned up on high. Even Toni ordered some hot water bottles because they were so cold.

When I was a kid in England, hot water bottles were the only way to get warm on cold winter nights. One night I dreamed I was swimming and woke to find my hot water bottle had emptied into the bed!

Still eating leftovers though. What would Thanksgiving be without leftovers?

We drove the Albuquerque contingent off to the airport today. I'll miss them - especially the little guy. But my daughter and I were already getting on each other's nerves so it was probably not a minute too soon. I think it's hard for Mothers and daughters to be in close contact for long. Pretty soon old issues start to rear their ugly heads and, if it lasts long enough, open warfare breaks out.

Somehow my husband steers clear of all the emotional tangles. He probably doesn't even know they are there. He's busy reassembling the house and putting everything back in it's place. I'm thinking we'll leave some things out as I like the spacious look without cocktail table and end tables.

So another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I'll try not to get too nostalgic about them. With any luck we'll do the whole thing again next year.