I was kinda thinking that this Thanksgiving was gonna be a bust, starting with the fact that neither of my two brother wished me a happy birthday which was just a few days before the holiday starts.
Such is life.
I actually started cooking on Monday, thinking it was Tuesday, and then realizing that I had to pretty much dump all that I DID start and start all over on Tuesday night.
My sweet potatoes didn't last because they started drying out and I couldn't use them for the Brandy Orange Cups that I usually prepare a day in advance and cook on that day in which we stuff ourselves in order to prove that God was right when he spoke about the sins of gluttony.
I should have consulted Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice before I started anything this year!
Then I had to throw out the brine for the turkey because I misread the recipe for apple cider vinegar. I read the line for apple cider and actually put in one quart of the vinegar instead of the one cup it required.
Well, at least it was Monday and I could easily hit the grocery store for another quart and try to actually read the recipe right this time on Tuesday.
At least my son opted to make his homemade Banana Pudding in my giant-size trifle bowl instead of his incredibly soporific Chocolate-Banana-Toffee Pie. The oldest daughter opted for traditional pumpkin pie, and I took the cheap (well, not exactly), way out and bought a dozen designer cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcakes here in Auburn.
Well I AM cooking everything else!
After today, I'm a little better ahead than I was this morning. Just do not ask me why it took over three hours to get the Cranberry-Apple-Ginger Chutney off the ground which set the tone for the whole day.
Things finally achieved a rhythmic pace until I only had one cup of sugar left and we still had the orange cups, pumpkin pie, banana pudding, and God knows what else left to finish for the day.
Everything.... stopped.
Including my ability to type worth a crap tonight!
Whoever said "loves makes the world go around", was lying out the wazoo. It's sugar - let's just get that straight right now!
I was calling the hubs, who has my car, because his BMW's starter went pffffffffff,
and he's at work,
and I'm all like panicked cause there's NO sugar to be found in the house,
and I like have a GA-zillion things that need it,
and I'm out of chocolate,
and the kids are now acting like out of control crazy people - wait... they're usually like that anyway..... but they are EXTRA crazy because
WE DON'T HAVE ANY SUGAR IN THE HOUSE.....
AND I CAN'T FINISH PREPPING FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER!!!!!
The hubs has acquired psychic abilities now that we've moved back to Auburn (thank God), and he "senses" he needs to come to the rescue like.... NOW!
"I'll be leaving in 45 minutes... what can I get you - how can I help you?", he says with a major dose of empathy in his voice.
"GET. ME. SUGAR! I can't finish anything without it!", I reply in a half-crazed tone (ah hell, I'm like that naturally - I have kids!), because I see recipes piled high in front of me, ingredients spread from one end of my tiny kitchen to the other, and.... and... OH. MY. GOD..... four potentially bored kids on the horizon.
AAAAAAHHHHHH...... I...... AM..... GONNA..... DIE!
As I brush myself off, regain some sanity and hang up the phone, all the kids decide it's a *good* idea to descend upon me at once in the kitchen in order to help.
Translation: "What ingredients is mom using that I can eat mass quantities of?"
I cannot even begin to tell you the chaos this creates for the next 45 minutes.
So I decide instead, to sit and ponder on the whole situation till the hubs comes home with the sugar. This in turn, brings me to the reason we even celebrate Thanksgiving: being thankful for those things around us even if they drive us to the brink of insanity!
Reasons for being Thankful:
- A nice, clean decent roof over our heads.
- The hubs finally doing well after all the hard work he has put in getting to this point.
- Food in the fridge for which we have had a lacking of in the past 2 years because we thought it a good idea to move to Florida for a "new start" that pretty much left said hubs without work.
- 4 healthy children that are so healthy and normal that they think it's funny to drive me completely insane during the holidays so we can all have a good laugh about in about.... 40 years. Just WAIT till they have their own kids.
- That God has blessed us and taken care of us through the rough times as well as the good times in more ways than I could ever tell you here.
- My health - the hubs health.
- Being able to call my mom whenever I want and know that she is still alive and kicking and laughing along with me with all the little idiosyncrasies that happen in my/our lives.
- Having my oldest brother Michael in my life.
- Knowing my middle brother, Bob, is better off now than he was five years ago.
- Having my sister-n-law still in my life even though her and my brother divorced, and knowing they are still the best of friends after it all. How many can say that?
- Having the joy return to my children and knowing they are truly happy again.
- Having all my friends and family all around me and being able to talk to those far away via Facebook and/or Twitter.
- Having all of you.
I seriously could go on and on, but the hubs is back with my sugar and there is still SO much cooking to do yet. Plus, you DO have your own life and not all year to read every stinking thing I'm thankful for this year.
As Julian begins to finish up his banana pudding and Nadia puts the finishing touches on her pumpkin pie (adding the sugar so we can get on with our lives here), I wish each and every one of you a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Thank you for sticking with little ole' me for another year.
