Thanksgiving Day

6:23 am "I want cereal!"
The Mama was dead asleep. "What?!? Isn't it the Middle Of The Night?"
"This one!" She demands. "With almond milk!"
"What?!?"

6:35 Oh, look, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade preshow is on! I forgot about that.

6:57 Better get to the store while they still have some frozen rolls left....

7:26 Put the Christmas music on, never mind that Daddy is still thinkin' he's gonna sleep for a couple more hours...

8:04 Look over at a very disheveled Maddie, she's clutching a chocolate glazed donut, sitting on the kitchen rug with her back to the heat vent. Mama smiles.

8:05 "Happy Thanksgiving, Mom!"
"Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Bud!"

9:53 The olives, crackers, cheeses, celery are all on the table and ready for snacking. The fruit salad is made. The rolls are rising. The cornucopia is on the table, along with a pumpkin, huge carrots, onions, peppers - whatever we may need today. The oven is being preheated.

Somewhere around 11am Eric gave a holiday prayer - addressed to Ullr - he placed it upon the fridge. "Ullr" it says in various-sized plastic alphabet magnetic letters, "PlEASE BrING sNOW".

11:50am We all gathered impatiently in front of the television in anticipation of seeing our beloved Santa, then at last we waved enthusiastically to our friend bringing up the rear of the parade - "Hi, Santa, see you soon!"
And so the Christmas/Yule/Holiday season begins for us.

12:36 Eric heads to Grammy's to help her put her leaf in the table - one of his official jobs for Thanksgiving - every bit as important as making sure the turkey goes in its brine the day before roasting.

1:35 The turkey will be done in a little over an hour, Trev is watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Maddie is sleeping, making up for her predawn enthusiasm for the day, Eric begins his mad dash to get the potatoes, salad, gravy, and vegetables prepared. (Yes, I let him. He doesn't like anyone else in the kitchen, and I get to boss him to do it the way I like from the next room, so why not? Plus - he's familiar with the kitchen- he's a chef, after all.)

1:41 Trev wanders around, asking if we think it's a Happy Thanksgiving, questioning if this or that will make him sick. He's not as enthusiastic as Maddie is today about food. He's not quite certain that food and he are friends.

1:46 The Mama, in her not having anything to do at the moment, ponders the possibility of making her very favorite thing - pecan pie. I made a chocolate cream one (from complete scratch, thank-you-very-much) but I don't think I've ever not had pecan pie on Thanksgiving before....
Can we have two pies?...


Added Sundy morning:
The rest of the day was much like the above - I did make another pie, and thank goodness I did, for the crust on the chocolate cream wasn't good at all!
We made a mad dash (well, Eric did) to the store for beans and cranberries.
We made our cranberry sauce, and got it all ready, and the afternoon was spent watching A Christmas Story, and of course Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and snuggling.
It was good enough for us.