It's Black Friday

I hope your Thanksgiving yesterday was wonderful.  Full of family, good food, and conversation!!  There's always a bit of a nostalgia about the holiday though, because we can't help but remember the family members who are either unable to be with us or those who have passed away.

There are so many memories that Thanksgiving conjures up for us.  The food usually tastes the same, but maybe the dressing isn't quite as good as Grandma's was.  Or maybe one recipe was traded for another, and you like the new one but sort of miss the old one.

Today is our Thanksgiving with the four grown children and the grandchildren.  It's always a bit of chaos but always great fun.  Especially to watch the grandchildren relate to one another.  There is always a moment, something funny that happens, that absolutely no one could predict.  At Halloween, for example, my eldest son misspoke in attempting to get his son's attention (whose name is Drew), and called him, "Greg," which is his younger brother's name.  That really created a roar of laughter from everyone.

My grandfather in his later years called people by the wrong name all of the time.  That same age-related confusion has plagued a lot of people in our family, and then when I do it, it drives me crazy!!  Usually, I catch it as soon as the name comes out of my mouth, but the scariest times are when I don't.  We're very Alzheimer and dementia aware these days.  So your first thought is, "Am I _____."  And then you dismiss it, saying that it was only the one time and it might happen again, but not often.

So as far as today is concerned -- the stuffing is ready for the oven, the turkey is in the dutch oven, the upside down pumpkin cake is baking in the oven, the cheeseball is ready, the jello with cranberries is ready, and the only thing I actually have left to do that requires some labor is peel potatoes.  I can manage that. 

We're coming around to the first anniversary of this blog.  It began at the very beginning of January 2013.  I hope that you stay on board, because if you do, I'll keep on writing Tuesday through Saturday without interruption (or at least not many interruptions).

By the way, on a side note, I've attended two of the class reunion committee meetings so far.  We had talked a few months ago about somehow rewarding anyone who might show up with their class sweater.  They were absolutely the most blah looking things I've ever seen.  Mine disappeared YEARS ago.  Well, of the 16 of us who gathered at the November meeting, TWO of the 16 still have their sweaters!!  Can you even believe that?  One classmate looked at them with amazement on her face, and whined, "WHY?"

What did we expect when we chose beige and brown as our class colors? 

Be sure to find Martha Stewart's guide to creating a memorable Christmas -- her Advent planning.  It's always worth a laugh or two.  In her current issue of "Martha Stewart Living," she shows a number of "holiday" trees.  They are "holiday" because they sure aren't Christmas.  Not one angel, not one crèche scene, not one star, not the magi, nothing.  There are alphabet ornaments for her toddler grandchildren.  There are menorahs.  Just nothing with "Christ" in it.  What kind of PC world are we creating here?  Why bother calling it Christmas?

Take care.