We had a friend who was going to visit for Thanksgiving weekend. At the last minute, she wasn't able to come. Her reasons were great and I wasn't offended, but I was sad. It feels like the point of Thanksgiving is to pack as many people into your house as possible and visit and feast all day. I tried to find some other orphans, but everyone we could think of had plans already.At first I was really disappointed. It felt pitiful to not have friends or family for Thanksgiving. Somehow the dinner felt less like a gift and more like work. This morning I spent some time with the Lord and realized that I needed to view the day as an opportunity. A time to celebrate just the two of us. To be grateful for all we've survived together and to dream ahead.
As a result, we're going ahead with the meal we'd planned. Of course, everything we're making is a little off-beat and experimental: Roasted Chicken and shredded sweet potato stir fry by Jrex; blue cheese potato salad, wilted spinach with currants and pine nuts, and apple currant cranberry pie by me.
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Yesterday, Jrex went to Whole Foods to get our 'organic, grain-fed, free-range' chicken. The woman in line ahead of him was talking with the worker,
"The 20 pound turkey is the biggest you have? Hmm...well, I guess I'll take that as well as the 15 pounder."
As she waited for them to collect her birds, someone came to help Jrex. They weighed the chicken and then said, apologetically, "It's only 4 pounds". Jrex nodded, "Perfect. Thanks."
The woman looked at him with envy in her eyes, and asked, "Thanksgiving for two?"
Jrex smiled and nodded, "Yup". She sighed again, "Enjoy".
Now that I've adjusted my expectations for the day, we will!
----------On cooking days, we call Muttola "Hopeful". As in "Watch out for Hopeful when you step back from the stove!"
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Stay tuned for the food porn photos tomorrow!
6 comments:
Happy Thanksgiving. If I were in your neck of the woods, I wouldn't mind being one of your orphans. =) Not being with family and having my husband busy all day with work and all evening helping a friend move has hit me harder than I'd like to admit. I thought it was going to be no big deal, but when the tears started, they came in a torrent. Thanksgiving is indeed meant to be shared, even if everyone where I'm at thinks it is just some random Thursday in November.
Can't wait to see your pictures. It all sounds so yummy and I hope you post recipes too.
Oh, and is it okay to hope that Muttola got to indulge at least a tiny bit in some of that Thanksgiving goodness? =)
Happy Thanksgiving! I kind of envy you. :) I am enjoying being with my parents this year, but I remember having Thanksgiving au deux and there was something nice and cozy and relaxing about it.
oh, i LOVE that picture of the shoes. i think i'm going to copy.....it's somehow so sweet.
and we're having a quiet thanksgiving too. it's IS kinda nice isn't it? to just really enjoy each other and tell each other how much we're thankful for each other.
happy thanksgiving!
There's definitely something appealing about the whole traditional, loud, kids running around, excess everything kind of Thanksgiving... but the quiet kind is so sweet and hard to come by.
I know, this is so Imelda of me but I *heart* your red shoes.
Oops... I made assumptions... I guess they could be JRex's red shoes. :-) I'm thinking Muttola's not into wearing shoes much, perhaps chewing on them...
your dinner looks delish.
i had a mostly good thanksgiving w/ the entire (immediate) family, including nieces - sooo much fun! but now am looking forward to christmas and NY here, with no extra time off. so hope i will manage to find some of those orphan parties :)
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