The past nine days have been taken up with events and activities related to my previous post about 11/14. Everyone is exhausted and no one is sleeping well but Thanksgiving week is here and I am ready to think about something else. Plus, my son is down from college and spending the week home which we are all excited about.
Right Now:
My youth group changed meeting times and today is the first meeting at the new time, 11:30 a.m. This will possibly work better for me because now my Sunday evenings will be free. It’s hard to do much on a Sunday evening. You just want to hangout at home.
This Week:
All I want to do is cook and eat and watch movies. I think that is what we’ll do.
Reading:
I just picked up The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell.
Watching:
Still watching the Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas. Also watching The Walking Dead but finished American Horror Story.
I’m ready for Home for the Holidays which is my fave movie to watching before Thanksgiving.
New Things I’ve Tried:
I typically cook the same meal each Thanksgiving but add a new dish now and then. This year, I am adding a dish from this post which has some amazing sides to choose from. If you don’t follow Gaby on Instagram you should. From this list, I will add those green beans. I like to include a green vegetable.
Grateful for:
Due to the events of last week, my daughter’s production of Macbeth had to be rescheduled for the end of January. It’s a busy time because Annie will have just ended and she’ll go right into Macbeth but we are all so relieved to not have the show this week. Anxiety was too high. Still is, but getting better each day.
If you are celebrating Thanksgiving this week , what will your day look like? Mine will be relaxing. I am envisioning couch time while the pup busily sniffs the air, curious about what treats she will get later.
Book Chatter 
I think we’re all ready to think about anything else than our worlds falling down around us, whether locally, nationally or globally. Like you, I just plan to relax this coming Thanksgiving (off for two days later in the week), mostly by reading for Thankfully Reading Thanksgiving on Thursday and Friday.
..although my wife probably would remind me that we (she and I) are privileged to be able to relax. Not everyone has that luxury. And while being thankful this coming week, while at work, I am going to try to remember those who come in who might be suffering and don’t have the luxury (which isn’t the right word here, but I can’t think of the right word right now) to take off time from their suffering. It’s not going to be easy, I already know that and as we get ready for a holiday book sale next week, my mind is going to be scattered and my healing knee is going to be sore at the end of the day. But I’m going to try to focus on others as I am able.
The day of Thanksgiving, though, will be nice as my wife is off work and we’ve already done all the shopping for Thursday’s meal. I’m sure we’ll be enjoying a movie or two, maybe even Home for the Holidays, which is one of our favorites too. Another is Pieces of April, which we discovered a few years ago and has become one we watch every year. And but of course Planes, Trains and Automobiles, going “old school.” Hope you and your family enjoy your day and your week off (from what it sounded like you have the whole week off from work?).
I think it helps tremendously to put others before ourselves in times like these. It takes us outside of ourselves and reminds us what’s important. It is far too easy to fall into a hole.
Your plans sound good and you have already gone shopping for the meal! I went to two stores. Still have Whole Foods and Sam’s Club but I don’t mind those at all.
The son is here. Came back with a cold but after a good night’s rest he is on the mend.
I def want to see Planes, and Pieces of April came up in my recommendation list. Have to check it out. Verizon offered a year of Disney Plus for free so I have all those old Disney movies to watch too like The Apple Dumpling Gang. Pure comfort right there.
Oh yes Apple Dumpling Gang, classic.
It’s hard to return to “normal” after a tragedy and, when you finally do, your “normal” is different somehow.
I’ve never seen Home for the Holidays but just watched the trailer and want to see it now.
Our nephew is here for Thanksgiving so Vance will stay with us too. Vance and I will have the store open for a few hours while Carl cooks dinner.
Kathy, you’re right. We all feel pretty strange right now.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I hope you had a nice holiday as well. We stayed home. Kept it simple. We needed to be still for awhile and it was great.
You and your family really need this week to relax and get away from it all so I hope that is possible for you. A fire broke out in the SB hills late this afternoon and there are mandatory evacuations. I hope they get it under control quickly. Happy Thanksgiving!
I knew of the fire but couldn’t figure out exactly what it affected. Was worried my son’s Amtrak train could be affected but it was fine and then the rains came, thankfully. Yes! We needed the quiet week and it was lovely, even though my son was sick the entire time.
We have Anna coming with her husband, and it will be the first time her daughter will not be with us 😦
We usually cook the same foods for the meal, but this time, I’m trying roasted potatoes with garlic and olive oil instead of mashed potatoes…I know what am I thinking.
I love the pies, that’s my favorite part. My daughter has games planned for everyone to play — including Roll a Turkey, which we did last year and it turned out hilarious.
I love roasted potatoes but only with certain foods. I would have had to have made both mashed and roasted if I tried that with my family.
Ti: I hope you & your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving and can let some anxiety go about what happened. You do a lot for your community and we all have a lot to be grateful for. It’s terrible what happened. But enjoy your son’s homecoming. In Canada we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving right now … but I sort of will share in it. We just got back from Redlands and had a great week visiting my parents. So I will hold on to that.
We had a very nice Thanksgiving holiday. My son came in on the train and avoided all that weather-affected traffic. We shopped for the meal together and had some meals out. My daughter got to hang with her brother which she really missed. The Hub watched football and the pup got her fill of turkey. Watched a few movies.