Thanksgiving dilemma

 He asked again today. "Are we making a turkey on Tuesday to share with A & L & D when they pick D up after work?"  

Me: (Blank stare)

Him: Or, what?

Me: (Frowny face and helpless shrug)

Him: Should I get a small turkey at the store?

Me: Uh, um, I don't know.

Him: What are we doing for Thanksgiving?

Me: (Drops head to the table.)

My latest coping strategy is to wait until it is too late to do anything and do nothing. That can NOT happen with Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday. We open the house to our son, our daughter-in law, our granddaughter and our daughter-in-law's family and to my mother and sometimes to one or more of my siblings. Dinner is followed by a walk and card games, silliness and chatter - and football on TV.  It is a day to just be together.  Also, FOOD!!!

When family can't attend (last year, they planned to be out of the country) we invite friends. No matter who we host, it is always the same. Food, conversation, laughter, football, games.

Um, not this year. 

I already texted the usual suspects and cancelled a large gathering.  However, I can't let go of the idea of pies and roasted Fall veggies and stuffing.  Should I bake pies and drop them off, masked and socially distant - set them on the doorstep, ring the bell and run away?  I can easily peel and slice enough vegetables for all of us and deliver them on Wednesday.

Should we take a chance and invite my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter to a short celebration? We see them twice a week anyway. (We see the parents for five to fifteen minutes at a time. And D for the afternoon. That doesn't count as "residing" with them, I guess.)

WHAT SHOULD WE DO??? I. DON'T. KNOW.

Kim and Penn Holderness made their decision to stay home. And then they made a video about it. Check out that Grammy's dance moves. 

I have a lot to be thankful for, anxiety aside. So far, my closest circle is COVID-19 free. I have a roof, the Internet, a sister who works at a yarn store if I run out of yarn (!!!), books, enough money, lots of food, a nice husband. What else could I need?

I need hugs, lots of hugs, to and from everyone I love. So, I WILL bake pies and peel veggies. I will fill those pies with hugs and drop them off with the ones I love. We will Zoom or Skype or Facetime our meal and NEXT YEAR we will all be together.

Stay safe, everyone.  Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Happy Mindful Thanksgiving

Take a deep breath.  You CAN get through this day serenely.  There is no need to respond to provocateurs at dinner today.  Smile.  Pass the gravy.  Pace yourself and practice mindfulness.

Abrams Books gives tips for staying grounded today and throughout the holiday season here.  (Okay, it's an ad but the tips are very useful.)

7 Things I Am Thankful Today:

Speaker phone capability.  I can roll out pie dough and discuss stuff at the same time!

Sunlight. 

Heat and hot water.  We ran out of oil last night.

Emergency workmen.  Eric, an oil/furnace man, came out at 9 pm to restart our furnace.

Pies.  I like baking pies.

Stories.  Entertaining, thought provoking, and enlightening.

All of you.  'Nuff said.

Thanks for Raina Telgemeier

Tomorrow, we celebrate all the things we have.  We gather, with people we love, to give thanks.  Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a National Holiday during the Civil War.  The tradition has continued through the invention of the automobile, the telephone and manned flight; two World Wars; the Great Depression; the Civil Rights movement; The Cold war; peaceniks and hippies (Me!  Me!); the Space Race; the invention of the Internet; 9/11; reality TV.  No matter what is happening, we all set aside a moment or two to appreciate what we have.

One of the people I am grateful for is Raina Telgemeier, cartoonist.  I picked up Ghosts, her latest novel, and sped through it.  The story is a simple one, of a 12-year-old who has to find her way in a new town.  But here's the twist; Cat's younger sister, Maya, has cystic fibrosis.  The family has moved to a small town on the North California coast to help Maya's breathing.

Little do they realize that their new hometown is riddled with ghosts.  To Cat, this is horrifying.  To Maya, it is fascinating.  She has questions to ask the spirit denizens of her town.

Telgemeier does not sugar coat the realities of Maya's disease, or the strain it puts on Cat as she works to be accepted for who she is at her school.  Her characters' faces are so expressive, that often words are not needed.  This book won't stay on the shelf.

Thanksgiving

 My sister teaches music in an elementary school.  Half of one of her early elementary classes is made up of first generation Americans.   In explaining the words of "My Country 'Tis of Thee", my sister told those children that they were today's pilgrims.

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, let's remember those who come here to find sanctuary from persecution, poverty, and discrimination. We all came from somewhere else, no matter what some people want to believe.

Right now, this is my favorite Thanksgiving book.  Puppets, balloons and pageants - the birth of an American tradition.

Some of my favorite Thanksgiving books, new and old.

Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen.  This classic was turned into an Academy Award-winning short film.  Third grader, Molly, asks her mother to make a Pilgrim doll from a clothespin.  Her mother, who was born in Eastern Europe, doesn't know what a Pilgrim is.  Molly explains that a pilgrim is someone who came to this country to worship freely, and to escape hard times.  Her mama makes a doll that looks like a Russian girl.  Molly's doll helps the teacher explain that America still welcomes pilgrims for all kinds of reasons.

A Strawbeater's Thanksgiving by Irene Smalls.  Jess, a slave, looks forward to the corn shucking party.  He hopes to be the special boy chosen to keep time for the fiddler by beating on the fiddle strings with a pair of strong wheat straws.  Hopes don't always come true and Jess works hard to make his hope become a reality.  Melodye Rosales provides beautiful illustrations for this story.

A Turkey For Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting.  Mr. Moose is determined to deliver a turkey to his wife for Thanksgiving.  Turkey is equally determined to stay away.  No worries, happy endings abound, all around.  And Diane de Groat's pictures are colorful and adorable.

Balloons over Broadway by Melissa Sweet.  Tony Sarg, a German-born puppeteer, was the artistic genius behind the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  He designed it to mirror the parades and processions of many of Macy's immigrant employees.  This picture book biography, written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, is my FAVORITE Thanksgiving book right now. 

Thanksgiving Poems by Myra Cohn Livingston.  If you are looking for something short to read before you stuff yourselves, take a look at this collection.

Over the River and Through the Wood by Lydia Maria Francis Child, with illustrations by David Catrow.  You MUST get the version with pictures by David Catrow.  The poem is lovely but the pictures are hilarious!

There are more, so many more.  I might add to this list in the next week or two.  Just remember to be kind to everyone you meet.  Stand up for people who need defending.   Give thanks for what you have. 

Thankful for....

OK, books I have read recently that I have to review.  (Not all in one day, although I read one yesterday and one today.)

I Kill the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora

Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata

Dangerous by Shannon Hale

The Madman of Piney Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis

Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Turkey Disaster ! ?

In April, we bought a new range with digital oven controls.  Two different options for self-cleaning, too.  There are knobs for the burners but to control the oven I just need to poke the right place on the touch screen.  The important words in that last sentence are "the right place."

The turkey was done.  The vegetables were roasted.  All I had to do was make the gravy.  People weren't showing up for another 40 minutes or so.  So I emptied the warming drawer and poked "Warming Drawer" on the control panel.  My finger slipped.  Do you know what control is right under the Warming Drawer area?  THE SELF CLEANING CONTROL!!!

The oven whirred and the LOC message showed up and my turkey was imprisoned in an oven that would soon heat to immense temperatures.

The ...door....would...NOT.....OPEN!

AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

This is a close approximation of how I looked yesterday!

That wild screaming you heard coming from the East - that was me!  I could not breathe.  I could barely speak.  BUT! I could shriek and jump up and down.

I poked the touch screen wildly - The ON OFF control, the Warming Drawer, the Self Clean control, the On Off control again.  The oven remained LOCKED. NOOOOOO!!!!!!

I pounded down the basement stairs to the breaker box and snapped all the kitchen circuits off.  Hub calmly called down that the oven was still on and still locked.

Back to the breaker box.  Of course, the range was on its own circuit.  Snap!

I raced upstairs - gabbling wildly and crying "Oh! Oh! Oh no!"  and other useful phrases like, "My turkey will burn up!  Smoke!  Help!"  And the ever helpful "I AM SO STUPID!!"

Hub stood by calmly, saying.  "Don't worry.  It will be all right. "  And he looked for the oven's manual.

Smart man!  I knew where the manual was and half crying, half shrieking the entire time, I turned to the pages about the Self Cleaning cycle and read this.

"To pause or stop the Self Cleaning cycle, push the On/Off control.  The oven will unlock when the temperature returns to a safe level."

Yeah.

So I ran downstairs and snapped the range circuit back on and raced back upstairs.  I poked the On/Off control and waited, rocking from one foot to the other and wringing my hands.  Within 3 minutes, the oven door was unlocked.  The turkey was intact and a lovely brown.  The vegetables were still delicious.  Thanksgiving was saved!

I am thankful for my husband.  His unruffled manner helped me find a solution.  Still, I wish we had the event on video. The whole incident would make a good entry on America's Funniest Home Videos!

Hope your Thanksgiving was lovely and love-filled.

Happy Thanksgiving

Gobble, Gobble!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving stories

Do you have a favorite story about Thanksgiving?  Something that happened at the table?  Something that happened on that day?  Or, do you have a folktale that reminds you of the joy of a grateful heart? One story that I love to tell during this season is the Japanese story, "Roly-Poly Rice Ball".  I found this story in Margaret Read McDonald's Twenty Tellable Tales.

The story has a common theme. One woodcutter is rewarded simply because he shared his lunch willingly with someone and was grateful for the gift he received.  His neighbor is punished for demanding a similar reward and showing bad grace when he received it.

The greedy are often ungrateful and the ungrateful are likely to be greedy.  The grateful, on the other hand, understand how to accept a gift and how to share it. 

My apple pie looked every bit as good as this!

We spent this Thanksgiving Day with friends, not family.  I was fighting a head cold and I avoided my immune-compromised father (chemotherapy) and my tiny newborn granddaughter for that reason.  (I did break down and take the last of the apple pie to my son and his wife but I sat as far away as I could stand it from the baby so I wouldn't breathe on her.)  Thanksgiving Day was a lovely day, warm and sunny, and spending it with my husband, my good friend and her husband and their two wonderful and goofy dogs was a blessing.

That said, I so missed the hustle and bustle of the holiday - which we have shared with our son, his wife and her family for several years now.  So I invited that crew and a few other people for Drop By for Pie.  It was last minute inspiration and Thanksgiving weekend is NOT a good weekend for last minute invitations.  But the people who appreciate my pie the most showed up. I got my baking urges out without adding significantly to my girth or that of my husband and our pie-loving friends got their pie!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and spent it with someone you love!

Give Thanks

Page 19 from Dallas Clayton's Awesome Book of Thanks

It's Kids' Book Website Tuesday and it's two days before Thanksgiving so... Take a look at Dallas Clayton's The Awesome Book of Thanks.  It is pretty awesome.  To learn more about Clayton and his Awesome books, check this interview on Reading Rockets, one of my favorite reading sites.

Talking about awesomeness and books and Thanksgiving, my favorite new Thanksgiving book is Balloons over Broadway : the True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet (who also drew the pictures).  Tony Sarg, a puppeteer and toy designer, made mechanical displays for Macy's windows.  He was the genius behind the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  This book describes how the parade evolved into one of America's favorite Thanksgiving traditions.  I love watching the parades - with the mute button on.  (That's how we watch football games in our house, too.  Don't those people ever stop talking to breathe??).  But I digress...

I hope to post before Thursday but if life intervenes - as it often does - have an AWESOME Thanksgiving!  Remember turkey has a soporific effect on humans so do NOT operate heavy machinery after eating Thanksgiving dinner.