Friday, November 24, 2023

Thanksgiving 2023

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a very nice Thanksgiving Day, yesterday.  I tried to pace myself throughout the day - I made the mashed potatoes in the morning and kept it in the fridge until needed.  The gravy was made early, too, and reheated just before serving.  The turkey went into the oven at 2:00 p.m. and was done by 5:30 p.m., although I let it sit in the oven, with the oven turned off, for another 30 minutes.  My daughter cut up and baked the butternut squash as a tray bake, with salt and pepper, and it turned out really well.  We all enjoyed it.  

In the afternoon, while the turkey was baking, I dusted the living room, vacuumed the main rooms, did a small load of laundry, and cut some chrysanthemums from the garden to arrange in vases.  In the meantime, my daughter tidied the family room and set the table.  

Friend R called in the morning and asked me to excuse her for declining the invitation to Thanksgiving dinner.  Of course, I understood her not wanting to join us; it was something I have done, myself, many times since the pandemic.  As it was, I had a window or two open for ventilation and three air purifiers on during the entire evening!

Late friend A's two daughters arrived at 5:30 p.m. and they brought two containers of stuffing and a loaf pan of cornbread, too!  I had made a double batch of cornbread, earlier, but, I kept that in the kitchen and served the cornbread the girls had made.  Later, when their father came over, he brought a cherry pie and some mini pumpkin muffins!

As you can imagine, we had quite a spread!  For hors d'oeuvres, I had bought a Sri Lankan/Indian snack called "murukku" from the Sri Lankan store and I had bought extra patties from the Sri Lankan restaurant, which I had stored in the fridge and heated up in the oven before serving.  They were enjoyed by all.  There was a choice of passionfruit juice drink, sparkling apple cider, and soda for drinks (I didn't serve any alcohol), and water, of course.

Thanksgiving dinner was roast turkey, with stuffing, baked butternut squash, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sauteed green beans and crispy fried onions to go on them, cornbread, dinner rolls, and salad.  It was the first time I had tried the "brown and serve" dinner rolls and I must say I really liked them!  I will be buying more of that in the future!

I tried to say a little blessing before dinner and got all teary and choked up as I thought of my friend who was missing from our gathering, this year, and my mother who has been gone for several years.  But, A's husband and daughters were very kind and tried to comfort me!  

For dessert, we had pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cherry pie, and mini pumpkin muffins, plus fresh fruit (although no one wanted the fruit!).  There were two kinds of whipped topping (original and extra creamy) for the pies.  

There were quite a lot of leftovers and I packed up containers of the leftovers for friend A's family to take back with them.  I was cutting up the rest of the turkey when my hands began to cramp for the first time for the day!  I'm glad they didn't cramp earlier!  I was told to sit and rest and my daughter and the girls finished putting away the food and clearing up.  They loaded the dishwasher and my daughter washed the items that needed to be handwashed.  I ran the dishwasher after the girls left.

I am glad that I was able to host this year's Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a small, but, meaningful gathering.  My take aways from yesterday's gathering:

- Start the preparations well in advance, especially the cleaning
- Give myself plenty of time to accomplish even the simplest of tasks because it seems to take me longer to do things now than it used to
- Build in rest breaks because I get tired more quickly now
- And, if I decide to put some lipstick for the first time since the initial lockdown because I am not wearing a mask, make sure I buy a new tube of lipstick because the one I had bought prior to the pandemic is now a bit rancid!     


A Bouquet of Chrysanthemums

Today, my daughter went hiking in the afternoon with A's daughters.  They invited me to go with them, but, I declined (which was a good thing as the easy hike they were planning on going to was closed and they did a more difficult hike!)  I busied myself doing laundry (all the table cloths, kitchen towels, etc.), and putting away stuff.  Things like the turkey roasting pan, which is stored in the garage when not needed, the big platter that was returned to the bottom of the china cabinet, etc.  I also washed and put back the dust sheets on the family room sofas.  There are a few more items to put away, but, by that time, my daughter was back from her hike and we chatted and had tea.  

Later, she turned my mattress around for me and we made up the bed with my new polar bear flannel sheets (by the way, the other sheet set arrived, too, but I haven't taken a picture of it, yet, or opened the package).

Daughter is now making more beaded jewelry (earrings, this time) to give as holiday gifts to her friends.  

Beaded Earrings

Dinner tonight will be leftovers from Thanksgiving!

Today, I am grateful for:

- Being able to host Thanksgiving dinner this year
- How well everything turned out
- Daughter's help with setting up and cleaning up, afterwards
- Daughter got to spend some time with her friends
- Plenty of leftovers!

Joyful activities this Thanksgiving have included celebrating the day with my daughter and good friends.

Tomorrow will be my daughter's last full day at home; she will be returning to Berkeley on Sunday.  We don't have anything planned for tomorrow, other than taking some leftovers to friend R, along with a couple of packages she had delivered to my address.  

How was your Friday?  What are your plans for the weekend?

22 comments:

  1. Oh, so much to give thanks for on your celebration day! Friends, food, family, fellowship... Those part-baked rolls are useful. The ones I get last a month or so in their vacuum pack and are a useful standby

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    1. Many blessings for which to be thankful, Angela. :)

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  2. I'm so pleased your meal went well, the spread all looks and sounds delicious. I can imagine it being an emotional time as your dear departed friend and your mother no longer with you. Your daughter has been a big help to you and I'm sure she will have enjoyed her stay very much, you will miss her when she returns to Berkeley. The jewellery she makes is lovely, she is very talented.
    I have been invited to my friend's birthday party this afternoon, I took flowers to her yesterday and I felt all emotional too as she is so warm and loving. Where would we be without good friends xx

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. It all went well and yes, my daughter was a big help! I will miss her when she leaves, but, I'll look forward to having her come back down at Christmas (and, hopefully, it would be for a longer visit).
      I hope you have a lovely time at your friend's birthday party; good friends are a blessing, aren't they?

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  3. It sounds as though you had a wonderful time with your friends and your daughter. The food looks and sounds wonderful & you were wise to spread the preparations out during the day. Enjoy your final day with your daughter and don't forget to rest! Love FD xx

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    1. Thank you, FD; Thanksgiving celebrations went very well and the most of the cleaning up afterwards have been done! We are planning to have a relaxed day, today. :)

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  4. It sounds like you had a very nice day. It's nice that you were able to invite your good friends to share it with you.
    I think it's understandable becoming emotional on this day when you are wishing your loved ones were still with you.
    I have a picture that I took of my mother and sister doing dishes on thanksgiving and they are laughing so hard at something. It is one of my favorite pictures. I brought it out and set it on my island so my mother could be with me while I was preparing the food on Thanksgiving. My eyes are stinging with tears even as I type this - we all get emotional about our loved ones.
    Yes! It is a lot of work isn't it? The last couple of years I made a nice dinner but did not make the full turkey dinner. This year I went back to the full dinner. And while it was good (delicious!) I can see how I may not want to do all of that again next year.
    I'm glad you squash was good :). What is that squash seed thing you referenced a few posts back?
    The necklace your daughter made for you that you showed the other day and these earrings are very pretty.

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    1. It was a very nice day, Debra, and I'm glad I was able to have these special friends over this year.
      I love the story of the picture you have of your mother and sister (they sound like they knew how to have a good time when they were together!) and how you set it up on the counter while you prepared your Thanksgiving meal, this year. Yes, it is a lot of work! I remember hosting Thanksgiving meals for 45 guests (the reason why I have 45 glass plates - my mother didn't want to use paper plates!) and doing all the cooking from scratch (even baked my own cornbread for the cornbread stuffing!). I was a lot younger then and had more stamina!
      Yes, it's called Toxic Squash Syndrome. Because squashes and cucumbers have a toxic substance called cucurbitacin E in them, which is a means of natural self defense for the plants; it tastes bitter and can be poisonous if consumed in high amounts. If squashes are grown in a sterile condition (without any chances of cross pollination with other squashes), then, their seeds are safe enough to replant and resulting squashes should be fine to eat. But, squash plants grown in conditions where open pollination can happen, might produce bitter tasting fruit which should not be eaten. Even though I hand pollinated this particular squash, I couldn't be sure that it wouldn't have been cross pollinated (I did have some zucchini plants growing along side the butternut squash).
      I remember that the cucumbers we used to eat in Sri Lanka (which were bigger and had yellow skins) were bitter and one had to "draw out" the bitterness before eating them! You'd slice off the stem end and rub it against the cut end in a circular movement for a few minutes and a milky sap would get drawn out and gather around the outside edges. This sap would be very bitter and had to be removed before the cucumber could be cut up for eating. When I first came here, I tried to do the same with the cucumbers here until I realized that these cucumbers weren't bitter!
      My daughter has taken up beading as a new hobby! :)

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  5. I'm glad you shared a photo of your festive table, everything looks amazing! Your daughter's crafted earrings are lovely.

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    1. Thank you, Bushlady. I'm very pleased with how the Thanksgiving gathering turned out and I am angling for a pair of beaded earrings, myself! :D

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  6. Sounds like you had an exhausting but wonderful Thanksgiving. Let the holidays begin. Thanks for sharing with us.

    Velva

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    1. It was tiring, but, wonderful. Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting, Velva. :)

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  7. Your table looks lovely. You certainly had delicious food and good company! Family and friends together makes a holiday wonderful. I hope your daughter has a safe trip back.

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    1. Thank you, Celie. Yes, it turned out to be a good gathering. Thank you for the well wishes for a safe trip back for my daughter. :)

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  8. So pleased that your home once again has had the fellowship of friends in it, spending quality time after so long. The meal looks and sounds great. Love the napkins!
    Ella

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    1. Thank you, Ella. It felt good to have friends over (once I got over the initial anxiety about being without masks, etc.!) The napkins (paper) are leftovers from pre-Covid days! :)

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  9. Sounds like a very good Thanksgiving, although I know it took a lot of work. Wishing your daughter safe travels home.

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    1. It was a good Thanksgiving, June, and worth the work. :) Thank you for the well wishes for a safe journey back for my daughter. It took longer than usual due to traffic, and I was getting a little concerned, but, she did reach Berkeley safely.

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  10. It sounds like you all had a wonderful day with lots to be thankful for. The spread looks amazing!
    I can understand why you would feel emotional at missing your friend. Those firsts are always the most difficult and you must miss her so very much. Xx

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    1. Thank you, Jules; it was a lovely day and yes, I did miss my friend, but, I think we were making new memories. :)

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  11. Your table looks festive & laden with delicious looking food. How lovely after several years of not being able to invite people in, you were able to host. Your daughter's earring creations are lovely - she'll be at the crafts shows soon selling her creations. :)

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    1. Thank you, Mary-Lou. It felt a bit nerve-wracking to invite people in and be without a mask, but, I am glad I was able to do so! My daughter's earrings are very pretty, aren't they? She made another set in shades of blue and they looked like forget-me-nots!

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