Dear Mom: Thanksgiving

 Dear Mom,

Thanksgiving has officially come and gone.  It was...a Thursday.  I tried to make it "special."  I tried to make it a holiday.  I tried.  But it didn't feel like much.

I didn't really sleep in.  When I can, I never can.  James, being a teen boy, can and does.  Steve & I were up, had coffee and biscuits and were about halfway through the parade when he finally came down.  (The coffee was gone.)

The parade was all right.  I wanted to watch it because I haven't in so many years.  Or I've only watched bits of it as I was preparing a meal.  I didn't feel anything watching it.  It was just okay, which could pretty much describe the day.

It was warm enough to go for a walk, which I did after the parade.  I listened to the first episode of the new season of TCM's "The Plot Thickens."  My walk and the episode were okay.

When I got home I took a shower and got "dressed" for dinner.  I tried to have the family dress so that it would be "special."  Like everything else that day, it was halfhearted.  I can say that my hair came out really well...better than I've seen it since the day I got it cut two weeks ago.  There was no one around to show it off to though...

It was nearly 2:30 when I started the Gardein Roast.  I didn't realize that it was going to take two hours.  (I was thinking one.)  We had decided to eat between three and four, but that wasn't going to happen.  Not the end of the world, but I should have paid more attention.  It gave me plenty of time to prepare side dishes (which according to the news is what it's really all about anyway.)  The three of us (though mostly James) had worked on making Julie's cranberry mold the night before, so I threw together some long grain and wild rice and stuffing. (Yes, I use the box for pork since it is the only one that does NOT have chicken in the ingredients; I add my own extras to it which fills it out and I think it makes it more flavorful.  Timing the whole thing is always the hardest part (as you know).  I sipped some cranberry wine (I had to go with Barefoot Cranberry as I couldn't find any Valenzano cranberry wine at Total Wine & More) while I waited.

We ate on our regular plates (Corelle Abundance), but used real silver (Grandma Foster's set) and serving china (Great Grandma Smith's) that I could easily find.  (I have the whole set buried in a bin in the basement...not doing me any good down there I know...I need to figure out where to put it and to actually use it since it is beautiful.)  I used the Thanksgiving plate that Julie gave us for the cranberry mold (and we have recreated her recipe quite well).   We said a prayer (I did it this year) and with Perfectly Frank (the new Sirius XM station) on the stereo we had our meal.

Everything was okay, but it wasn't...I don't know it didn't feel holiday.  It was just okay.  I wanted it to be more, but more what I'm not sure.

I know that while we can look back on the past with fondness, we can't replicate it. I need to come up with new Thanksgiving traditions and plans.  (Already have the Friday after Thanksgiving in-law gathering established.)  I've been thinking about it over the past week or so and didn't come up with anything.  In 2023, I should probably start thinking about it earlier (right after Halloween?).  I'm creative; I should be able to come up with something unique, and maybe even fun.  Who knows what 2023 will bring?  James will be in college (we hope; we haven't heard anything from any of the colleges he applied to) and he may have his own plans.  (I know yesterday he missed you terribly.  I'll admit that I'm still wrapped up in my own selfishness that I don't think about how much James, Steve, Dad and countless others miss you too.)

As for now the first Thanksgiving without you is over.  

Love You,

Me