Thanksgiving Recap

Hope everyone survived the holidays!  Here's a rundown of what's been happenin'.

Wednesday I took the day off from work because I wanted to have some time to do some cooking.  Also because I had to work Sunday and we get Friday as a paid holiday so I would be over almost an extra day in hours.  Trying to figure out my schedule during the holidays is painful.  Anyway, the day I was going to use to get ahead on cooking did not turn out at all.  When I got home on Tuesday, I wanted to get some presents wrapped and put under the tree.  I had one homemade thing to do for my mom so I figured I would get it done in a few hours, wrap some presents, get my pots and pans and whatnots ready for the big cooking day and call it a night.  Well, six hours later I finally finished the present for my mom.  Apparently I had underestimated how long it would take by oh, five hours.  I still got everything wrapped but then I went to bed and crashed until a half hour before my mom came over.

By this time, I was supposed to have made two pies, cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed the living/dining room, done a few loads of laundry and had all the dishes done and put away.  When my mom got there, I had just drug myself out of bed and relocated to the couch.  A few hours later, I did make up 5lbs of mashed potatoes.  And that is all I can remember.  Hmmm.  I seem to have a few holes in Wednesday's memories.

Thursday, was just messed up from start to finish.  My aunt had emailed me that she was having Thanksgiving at her place at noon and that they would be taking pictures because my grandma is sick.  I was really upset when she emailed me and all for the wrong reasons.  I felt irritated because she emailed me only a week in advance and it was like I obviously had no other plans so I should just drop what I'm doing and run.  And I know that it wasn't meant like that but there's a lot of bad feelings (on my part) with that side of the family.  Most of it probably isn't based on reality but it's how I feel and I can't change that.

So I was trying to figure out how I was supposed to juggle getting to my aunt's for pictures and trying to cook Thanksgiving dinner for my mom and I.  I wanted to do all the cooking from the turkey to the rolls and I couldn't seem to find a way to fit in leaving for over an hour.  Every time I would think about it, I just started bawling.  I did not want to go to my aunt's.  And then it hit me.  I didn't have to.  It was such a freeing realization.  I had always hated going to my aunt's for all the holidays but my parents always made me.  But now, I can decide if I want to go.  And choosing between going and being unhappy and uncomfortable and staying and cooking and laughing and being so damn happy with my mom wasn't hard at all.  I know that I'll regret it later, either by something happening to my grandma or having this hung over my head by my relatives for all eternity but you know what, I'd rather be with people who I want to be with and want to be with me than to be guilted into being with people that don't really care about me.  In the past few years that I have been having trouble with my family, I haven't been that hard to find.  And sometimes, it really is a little too late.

Anyways, now that I have been really depressing, let's move on to the good stuff!

Thanksgiving dinner was awesome if a little late.  I made everything!  I was so proud of myself.  And it all tasted so good!  The turkey was brown and moist and delicious and the stuffing was to die for.  I'm going to try later and post some pics of the turkey.  I forgot to take a picture before we started carving so I had to turn the bird around and crouch down a little so you can't see that half of it is gone!  The only bad thing that happened was that I didn't get a chance to bake the pie!  My mom was so disappointed.  I promised to make her one this weekend but I totally spaced it.  I promise this weekend, Mommy!  We'll put up the tree and eat pie.  ^_^

Laters.