Happy Thanksgiving!

So, today is Thanksgiving...

Here is a photo of what I had for lunch, and what I'll have again for dinner in a short while:

 

 

 

It may not look like it, but its Meatball Soup. Hey, at least the meatballs are turkey! Let me tell you the story:

 

For the past few years we have been invited over to our neighbors home for Thanksgiving. We have had some great memories of being over there. Lots of people, tons of food, laughing and drinking, and singing and telling stories. We always had a super time being included in such a welcoming way. Two years ago, my sister and her husband were able to come up here from New Hampshire for Thanksgiving, and they too were invited to join the neighbor celebration, and once again we all truly enjoyed ourselves. And they were planning on making the trip to be here again this year, but there was some confusion about what was going on with Thanksgiving dinner at the neighbors. That was cleared up last week, when we learned that they would not be hosting dinner this year. His dad is pretty sick, and probably won't make it too much longer, so she was not cooking dinner at all, they would be making the rounds at other family's homes to be together during this rather difficult time for them. No problem, we can make adjustments. I debated about cooking, but it takes all day to make a good meal, 20 minutes to eat, another hour to clean up, and then its over. And it would just be the 4 of us, and I just wasn't sure that's how I wanted to spend my day off, plus I will be working tomorrow and Saturday, as usual. So we decided to head over to Jay Peak, and partake of what sounded like a marvelous buffet of food. And we extended the invitation to my sister and her husband, and also to another neighbor, who are Canadian, and had their Thanksgiving back in October, and they accepted also. So the six of us were looking forward to a great time feasting and laughing and being together. Fast forward to this past Monday, when my wonderful husband (of 35 years) wakes up with a pretty awful sore throat. No big deal, sore throats don't always mean a cold is on its way. He managed thru that day okay. Now its Tuesday, he has the chills, body aches, exhaustion, stuffy nose and congestion. Whoops, guess its more like the Killer Cold virus hit him. He's downing medicine as fast as he can, drowning himself in liquids, sleeping and resting, but by yesterday morning its obvious, he will not recover in time to enjoy the mighty meal, let alone consume much of anything solid at all.  And we certainly don't want anyone else to get what he has. So we cancel all of our plans; the dinner reservations, the visit from my sister, and the get-together with the neighbor. And while I have been feeling rather sorry for myself for not really having a bit of anything close to a Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful that I am not feeling crappy like my husband has been for 3 days. I did make some pumpkin bread and Christmas cookies this morning, listened to the Macy's Day Parade on TV, took the dogs out for their walks, and chatted on the phone with my daughter and sister, but basically it has just been like a normal day off from work. This will be known as the Thanksgiving that wasn't. And tomorrow I'll head out to work a little bit earlier than normal and see if I can get the store opened abut an hour earlier than normal, and sit back and experience Black Friday on Church Street. I hope it goes well! The weather should be good for being down there. Today was beautifully sunny and in the mid 50's. Crazy! It was so nice out, and tomorrow should be the same. But I see some snowflakes in the forecast for Saturday and a few days next week, so maybe it is good that I got my snow tires put on Monday. I am ready for just a little bit of the white stuff-just not too much yet! It will come eventually, I know it. I hope everyone has made a Thanksgiving memory today. Here is a photo of my little grandson on his very first Thanksgiving today.

 

He is so cute, and getting so big. Maybe one of these years we can be together for Thanksgiving! 



Post Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween, and here are what my grandchildren looked like:

 

 

 

Aren't they just the cutest ever? Last year we were there with them for Halloween, and had fun going Trick-or-treating. This year I had to just enjoy the photos of them. It will have to do. I think back to when my daughters were little and we would take them out on Halloween. I remember making their costumes lots of years. Living on base, often times out of the country, made it difficult to find things for them to be. Sometimes we took them to the base to get their candy if we were living off-base. One year the weather in England was terrible, and we didn't want to drive to the base, so we went into the village, and they each got to fill a bag of candy from a store there. The following two years we all took part in turning a very old priory building on the base into a haunted house, then watching as groups of people came thru it. I think they had a good time doing that. Now, they have the fun task of making holidays special for their children. I know they're doing a great job.

 

Hurricane Sandy came thru the east coast this week. We were spared up here, barely any rain, some wind. But New York City, and the coast of New Jersey and Maryland were destroyed. Plus the western side of the Appalachian mountains were buried under up to 3 feet of snow. It was crazy, billions of dollars in damage, 80 some deaths, and still today, 3 days after the storm, over 4 million people still without power. It will be a long road to recovery. I hope we have a normal winter up here!