I took a gentle break this morning as Tom and I were doing household chores and planning for the week ahead. Even when I’m alone at the table, I feel the presence of others. Possibly Lynne gave me the tin that holds my instant hot chocolate (it really is Swiss Miss® this time; it isn’t always), but she definitely gave me the little plate the two Pepperidge Farm® Milano cookies are on (thanks for the cookies, Tom!). The coffee mug is part of a set of four different van Gogh-inspired mugs from Tom’s parents many years back. During my break, I was putting together a menu and grocery list.
This is the beginning of preparation for our Thanksgiving holiday after Tom’s grocery run. There are still a couple of things missing, and these don’t include the food Debby will add. There’s much to be baked, boiled, and otherwise cooked or prepared, but the bulk of shopping is done. This has always been my favorite holiday, despite many past Thanksgivings I’ve experienced with fractured families, missing people, dramatic scenes, and loneliness. That shit can make for good, or at least interesting, storytelling.
I’m grateful for so much and so many every day, and I appreciate having a day when the nation pauses to be thankful–and maybe to do something to help others who aren’t as fortunate. I long ago opted out of Black Friday retail madness, something I’ve never regretted. I wish a good week to those for whom shopping is fun, along with gathering for tag football, watching football, playing board games, retelling stories, and being with family by birth or choice, or being solo and simply enjoying a day of rest, watching Netflix, or appreciating the animals who love us unconditionally.
If the holidays find you depressed, please reach out to available resources easily found online who can help you through it. If it will help you, volunteer your time at a shelter, a food kitchen, or a hospital or nursing home. Whatever you do or don’t do, whatever your circumstances or state of mind, YOU MATTER. Always believe it.
And you can do it all again in a month’s time!
Tom gets to pick the Christmas menu because it’s his birthday. It’s usually not quite the “feast” Thanksgiving is. I still haven’t decided about when decorations are going up, but it definitely won’t be before Thanksgiving this year.
That’s interesting. Christmas is the big feast here (sadly, so much waste is generated by people as a whole), but then we don’t have Thanksgiving. That’s probably why the build-up begins so early here.
Yes, Thanksgiving and Christmas are big food waste dates in the U.S., too. Not at this house, though. We either eat it over the following days (e.g., mashed potatoes, dressing, rolls), or freeze what we don’t eat immediately for future meals (e.g., any leftover chicken will be cut up, frozen, and used later in chicken and dumplings or chicken pot pie; my cornbread dressing comes from previous skillets of leftover cornbread that I freeze for this purpose; leftover vegetables go into a single freezer bag until they get used in a big pot of soup). My mother’s phrase was, “Waste not, want not.” I abide by that. Over the last few months because of our power outages, I also don’t stock the refrigerator the way I used to. Not doing so requires more planning and thought, but I can’t stand food waste. The generator that will soon be installed should help in that regard, too.