Thanksgiving Update

Oh how a Mother's emotions are in overdrive on a holiday.  Anyway mine are.  It was the best of times but I was so lonely for my son Mike who was unable to make it to our dinner.  He worked on Thanksgiving and on Friday, making a trip home impossible.  We were able to face time with Mike and Amanda, and son Jon and Charlotte didn't come until right after dinner was almost over.  Kristen missed her brothers too, saying how it was weird being home without them.

The star of the show was Penny, and we got in as much fun as possible during her 5 day visit.  We built a little snowman, named Olaf, of course...

 She was chief pie inspector......

 and she was a wiz at putting cloves into oranges for our centerpiece. Penny is amazing, smart, funny, kind and sweet.  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed her company.

 Penny was my constant companion, willing to help, loving my company and being all around wonderful.

 I accidentally baked the bread at 250 instead of 350, then had to bake it for 20 minutes longer at the right temperature.  Turned out fine.  Not a piece was left the next morning. (A leftover raid after Grandma pooped out.) The other casualty was the spinach for the spinach dip.  I grabbed a dishtowel off of the island that unfortunately had the drained and squeezed spinach in it.  It fell on the floor, and no five second rule when it comes to feeding my family.  I think they ate the spinachless dip with chips, so it all worked out.;-)

 I managed a photo, well, after most everyone had helped themselves.  I'd never made mac and cheese for Thanksgiving, but everyone liked it.  There was so much food some stayed on the island...

TEN pounds of mashed potatoes and a salad with pecans, cranberries, pears and feta on Romaine.  I was so eager to get everything to the table that I completely forgot to take the desserts out of the freezer before dinner so they could get to room temperature.  I can say that no teeth were broken on the frozen cookies, pumpkin mini cheesecakes or the apple cheese cake bars.  The pumpkin pie was just in the refrigerator so at least that was ready.  Everyone had a great time, stayed all evening and was stuffed!

We had about 17 guests and company on Friday that finished off the desserts.  Penny ate a half dozen  home made pierogi while she was here! (I stopped counting how many cookies ;-)

Now the big news... Kris and Doug found a apartment in Chicago and signed a lease!  They are very excited, and I am over the moon happy.  Sometime in January they will become residents of Chicago!
Now the sad news, Mike is moving!  His Amanda took a job in Ohio, so he will be moving AGAIN!  The Lord giveth...  So, as Maya Angelou said, "If you don't like something, change it.  If you can't change it, change your attitude."  So I'm dealing with a little attitude adjustment, hoping to help Mike in this move, if not physically, with my support and love.

That's about it my friends.  Christmas will be here, Penny will be back, I hope to have Mike back someday this December for a visit, and the  road to Ohio will become familiar to us.  Life will be amazing having my Kristen and Doug and my baby grand less than an hour away.  Life is good and I am forever grateful. Twenty three days to prepare the way...  I'm looking forward to everyday of the preparation.  How about you?  Enjoy this beautiful day.