Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thankful!

Today, we are finding it easy to be thankful. 

Many things have happened this year that have made us question our choices, our life path, our decisions.  There have been times when we have felt financial pressure, career insecurity, anxiety about our geography.  But today, as we get ready to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal, it is easy to see how very lucky we are, how many things have come together in such a perfect way to get us to this place in our lives, and how many people we have to think of as we sit at our table this evening. 

Dinner is coming along nicely - pioneer style...

Turkey finishing off on the left, gravy and soup bones in the big stock pot, potatoes waiting for the oven in the back. 
We had planned to be making Thanksgiving Dinner in the new Aga but, alas, the little gas nozzle and the teeny tiny screw-thing are still in transit, so her ovens are cold and empty. 



Instead we had this... 



I bought this combination oven when we were living in Indiana, as a luxury item, really, and I am so thankful now for that opportunity!  It has really saved the day today!  The turkey went in this morning, and the turkey legs went in the stock pot for soup.  The soup broth was ready by about 2, so we chilled that for another day and put everything but the turkey breast meat into the stock pot with most of the juices from the cooked bird, and finished that up on the woodstove, with the sliced turkey breast resting in gravy to keep it moist and juicy.  The sausage pies, which you can see in the picture, are standard fare in our house for the holidays, and when it got to 4pm and there was no pastry made yet, Becca started to ask a few polite questions...

So we made the pastry and the stuffing, and baked them quick before we put the potatoes in to roast. 

It was a good dinner, not the best, not by a long way, but it worked, and we managed pretty creatively with the meagre cooking facilities we have available, and managed to get the cooking done in between the numerous naps that seemed to punctuate the day for some people!

Feel free to pull up a chair, everyone is welcome! 


At the table, as we ate, and chatted, we thought of our friends in England who are not celebrating today, but we are still thankful for.  We talked about our lovely friends on the east coast that we have had the good luck to share many meals with over the years, those who still live there, and those who have moved back to England or off to Canada on their furthering adventures.  We made a plate for our dear friend Russ in Indiana, who asked me to fax him a meal, and we laughed about the silliness of it as we took pictures to share with him.  We remembered fun days when our families were together, and talked about Thanksgiving's past when we were welcomed into many Indiana homes with open arms and happy hearts.  And we toasted our friends here in Washington, too. 

It's worked out well that we shared our thanksgiving with all of you 'virtually' this year, because everyone feels a little flat today, we've been busy since September and now that we've stopped, it's all caught up with us.  Becca and Bri have sore throats, Becca has been dizzy and pale, Cait has a '40 a day' cough, and every now and then her cheeks flush cherry red.  It's better than last year - last year Becca had laryngitis and she and I slept for no more than 2 hours at a time for about 4 days.   She was in such pain, and nothing much helped, poor child, it was pretty awful.  At least this year it's just a bit of a cold-type-thing. 

I'm off to clean down the kitchen, by myself, which almost never happens - just shows how exhausted they all are that they can't even bring themselves to help, usually they are all available to work.  Hopefully everyone will sleep soundly tonight, with their tummies full of yummy food, and we'll all feel a little more energetic tomorrow. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope that your eyes and hearts were able to appreciate the wonderful good fortune that is at work in your life.  xx

1 comment:

  1. Debs you write so well. Hope everyone is on the mend so that you may enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

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