Turkey Day Mental Simmer

Just a busy Monday mish-mash of all the things in my mind today. Basically all I'm thinking about at this point is Thanksgiving Day planning, my mind is buzzing with ideas and lists and possibilities.

My hopeful little invitation ended up being way more inviting than I ever dreamed...we won't have just our little nuclear family trying pathetically to down a turkey dinner. People are turning out in droves. Counting ourselves and the boys we will have between 25-30 people, give or take. I'm totally psyched!

Last night we solidfied the menu:

Roast Turkey
Honey Baked Spiral Glazed Ham
Giblet gravy
Fruit and Cheese Plate
Garlic mashed potatoes [1/2 batch made w/ olive oil and half with butter for the vegans in attendance]
Rolls or bread
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potatoes
Stuffing
Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms
Curried Squash Soup
Green Beans w/ Olive Oil, Garlic and Toasted Almonds
Roasted Cauliflower
Cold Lentil, Persimmon, Pomegranate Salad

[Dessert]
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Poached Pears
Assorted Chocolate Truffles
Flourless Chocolate Torte
Whipped Cream

I realize this looks like proof of my certifiable insanity but I swear to you, most of these items can be made ahead, A is taking several of them and teaming with me to cook, I am delegating some dishes to guests and most importantly...even if it's crazy...I really want to be doing this and I'm excited to make it happen!

Now that the menu is all set, I'm collecting my recipes, making the big grocery list, drawing up a cooking schedule for the week beforehand and musing on other happy "Thanksgivingy" things.

Witness:

• A Thankful Paper Chain which could be a really fun activity to keep dinner guests occupied while the meal is being finished.
• Pretty decoration ideas from Better Homes and Gardens.
• The ever inspiring Martha. I especially like the leaf decorated glass jars with candles in them. I am imagining using any old recyclable glass jars we have in our bin. I think the boys would like helping make these.
• These ARGH! beautiful, beautiful harvesty floral arrangments by my floral designing idol Saipua.
• A very charming vintage card cover that makes me very happy. I may print it off just to prop in my kitchen window while I bake. Do you think I could pull off a little starched cap like that?
• This beautiful junk chair frame...turned autumn scene frame. Wish a stunning Queen Anne frame like that would get tossed in my neighborhood.
• Baby dormice, who are both British and alarmingly cute and autumnal...plus, they live in a pumpkin! What's not to love.
• Acorns so achingly beautiful that I want to go out and collect bucketfuls.

Related articles

• How Much Turkey Per Person? Use This Rule of Thumb (thekitchn.com)
• A Good Appetite: A Seven-Day Plan for Thanksgiving - A Good Appetite (dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com)
• 14 Great Examples of Thanksgiving Food Art (neatorama.com)
• What Are the Best Appetizers for Thanksgiving Day? Good Questions (thekitchn.com)
• Thanksgiving Menu Ideas (blogreader44.wordpress.com)

The Not-So-Scary Relatives

My in-laws came and they went. I didn't keel right over from anticipation stress and the visit went very well. I'm not sure exactly why but I sure am able to make a whole lot of panic out of a friendly visit. I'm so intimidated by other people sometimes, so scared of sharing my space (lest it be sneered at), so afraid of criticism and so unsure of my ability to get "included." I think a lot of it stems from not being a very strong feeling person inside, I'm not confident in my ability to hold my own, impress, blow away the competition or be what I am supposed to be.

A's parents, in the flesh.

It was just a little weekend visit, they flew all the way out from the Midwest, just to spend the weekend with us, belnieve it or not. On that weekend visit they sent A and I on a highly relaxing overnight with no kids (Oh, baby-free, king-sized, sleep-number-bed...you were heaven!), they re-stocked our kids with books, brought us sheet-music for children's songs, did all the laundry in the house, ironed anything within a 1 mile radius, took all our trash out, shined our every dish, treated us to pizza, and even maaged to hang a curtain for me on the sly that I had been battling with.... What exactly was I so scared of? I sometimes wish I was less of a ridiculously cagey bird and more placidly trusting and smoothly optimistic. But yeah, I'm still me.
 Image via Wikipedia

So, now that they're gone and all is well after all, I'm handing out the homemade cookies my mother-in-law whipped up for snack time and we're all reciting the lines from, How The Grinch Stole Christmas (which we can now recite in chorus thanks to Grandpa's astounding patience with "one more time" requests from Ru.) I feel soundly on my feet, heading into the holidays with my cap tightened down and my kitchen counters shining. I am determined to manufacture more goodwill for my fellow man, more cookies for the Christmas tins and as much good cheer as can be reasonably obtained. Morning sickness be darned!

Incoming Grandmother!

And then Little Grandma arrived. 

 

A's mom came whooshing in on a plane this morning and we promptly scooped her up and spent the whole day at a mad gallop. Everything from hanging out laundry and taking the baby for a four month check-up and four thousand things in between. Tomorrow we stay home.

The benefit of lots of time in the car dashing to and fro was that we lured Little Grandma into joining our new tradition of family storytelling on the highway. She told us some of the most fabulous stories...laugh out loud side groaners, scary tension filled tales and all kinds of curious familial legends that will live forever in the minds of my children. I think I am going to be able to relax just beautifully.

Moving Guilt

Well, I've decided to absolve myself of the guilt I have over hiring movers to pack and move us. And get rid of the ridiculous notion that I'll pack as much as I can myself before they arrive. Hah. We're having company right beforehand, we are helping our church with Vacation Bible School and then there's the part about how I have three children and I would be doing all the packing solo. Right.

So, I have now decided that my attention will go to purging and organizing our goods before the men with rolls of packing tape pull up instead. I did a good bit today, there's a whole new box of things all ready for Goodwill and I started putting like items together to facilitate logical packing. (all the towels in the house upstairs in the bathroom, all the coats in the coat closet, all the shoes in bedrooms etc.) I realize there's a lot more to do there but, I'm trying to even let myself off the hook there and believe that what matters will get done and we'll survive if ridiculous things get packed in absurd order and we arrive at our new house all topsy turvy.

Does anyone else get all thigh-deep in false guilt all the time? I wonder if its a feature of my personality or just a very innate human tendency that has beating myself over the head with a board like those silly monks from Monty Python. Anyone else? Dude, that is so me.



I think about this whenever I find myself all torn to bits over some ridiculous something and then I look in the mirror, see my tear-stained face, realize its three a.m. and think, "What am I doing? This is totally silly, I shouldn't feel bad about this, it doesn't matter at all!"

Well, sort of...maybe its not quite that dramatic but, I do have the self-confrontation moments when suddenly it is all very clear and also very silly and I resolve to get off the bandwagon. And then...there I am again. The only answer I have found is to let it go when I see that I'm absurdly over-activating my conscience. Let's spend a little time on the things that we really are doing that are wrong. Heaven knows there are enough of them without carrying around a few extra bricks because I use the wrong detergent, don't know my times tables by heart, talked to my sister on the phone for over and hour the other day or hid in the kitchen to eat some candy etc. etc. Why am I so compelled???

Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Time to let go.