Thanksgiving

Yesterday was lovely. I had cinnamon rolls raising before I went to bed on Wednesday so we had a few of those for breakfast on Thursday while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Master talked to several of his family members while I got things ready for the turkey dinner. We don't eat until 4pm so I just prepped.

While we waited for getting things in the oven, we watched a movie. We watched The Prestige. We ate about 4:30pm as pop up timer on the turkey didn't pop up until then even though I thought just by poundage it should have been done sooner. Master and I had a good wine and stuffed ourselves! After we cleaned up the kitchen, I called my parents. My sister just closed on a house so I knew they were spending Thanksgiving working on the house. It has hardwood floors almost all through the house that needed to be sanded and re-varnished plus several other projects that need to be done before she moves in. We chatted a bit and then Master and I rolled ourselves to the couch to watch The Polar Express. It was so nice to be snuggled up on the couch watching it...I get such a gleeful feeling when I watch it. Not feeling so stuffed but still needing to work some of it off so we could have pumpkin pie meant fun in the bedroom and I got beat! yay! Eventually we had pumpkin pie and watched Project Runway (I will probably do another post on that). We ended up getting to bed about 1:30am with the alarm set for 4:30am because we decided to be insane hit Best Buy and Circuit City on Black Friday.

It was a good Thanksgiving....We had a really nice day! Master and I had good quality time together yesterday. It was very nice and I am very thankful to be with Master.

I really get annoyed with myself though because I still got sad and down yesterday despite having a really nice day with Master. I was missing time with family. I even thought of Thanksgivings spent with Jim because really we would spend many Thanksgivings at his Aunt's home. But I also thought when I hosted it a few times....although like I said in my last post cooking Thanksgiving meal isn't my favorite for a crowd. I am always worried the turkey won't come out good. Why I worry about that...I am not sure as I have always had my turkey's turn out really good.

I remember the first Thanksgiving I hosted was when my parents, sisters and one of my Grandma's came...when I was married. I think actually it was our first Thanksgiving after moving into our house. I had at that point in my life never made a turkey so thankfully my Mom was right there to help walk me through it! Such as I was forgetting to pull the sack of giblets so she caught that! And she made the mashed potatoes because it took me years to master those...I always have had lumps. I finally can make mashed potatoes without lumps (well most of the time). But everything else I made turned out really good. I just remember being so intimidated because my Mom and my Grandma are amazing cooks. So here I am doing turkey dinner for the first time and they are my guests. Oh my the panic! I remember freaking out on Jim before they got there in the morning - they had stayed in a hotel as our house had lots stairs and my Grandma couldn't take those. So it was just my sisters that stayed with us. But I freaked out with Jim. He of course kept trying to tell me all would work out and it did.

I had made turkey a few times by the next Thanksgiving I hosted so I wasn't as freaked out. And that Thanksgiving was with friends. We had 3 couples. One couple had just moved to the area and the wife of the couple was really missing her family. It was going to be her first Thanksgiving without family. So I thought being around a bunch of friends might help her. And it did for the most part - you know there is always that part of that thinks about it though. I made the turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing and a few appetizers but then everyone else brought things. I still remember the house decorated just perfectly with lots of fall leaves/trim and candles. I made a table runner. It had really pretty fall leaves on it so added solid fall colored napkins that I tied with jute for napkin rings. I made place card holders out of little sacks that I filled with candies for them to take home. They were decorated with leaves that I painted on watercolor paper and cut out and attached with raffia. One with leaf with their name on it. We had lots of food, wine, games and laughter. It was really nice because it wasn't an obligation to come...like it is sometimes with family. Although we all love our families sometimes we have to go because we have to go. And that wasn't the case with the friends. So it was different then usual but very nice.

I hosted Thanksgiving one year for Jim's parents too. I can't remember why his Aunt wasn't doing it or why we weren't going there but Jim's parents came over and it was a nice day. I always felt intimated by her too. Because while we are friends now and friends while I dated Jim when I became Jim's wife I never seemed good enough in their eyes. So I always felt like I had to go over and above things to prove myself.

I know I hosted Thanksgiving a few more times...once when my sisters couldn't get to Minnesota they came to our house. But those 3 above are the ones that stick out in my mind the most. And I recalled yesterday during my sadness. As I said it annoys me because I have so much to be thankful for plus I had such a nice day with Master that I shouldn't have been sad at all. I just feel this year is going to be year of recalling old memories for me because of my mindset about being 40.

Well that is enough reminiscing for today. I need to work today a little bit.