Saturday, November 25, 2017

Thanksgiving 2017

Rarely have I looked forward to a four-day weekend with relief as I have this year. I don't have to go or be anywhere except the family dinner on Thursday. I love baking, which is a middle-aged surprise for me. I don't bake anything fancy, I just feel a relief and satisfaction doing it, admiring my handiwork, and sharing it with others.

This year I baked cornbread and lemon loaf, having fun with all the tins I bought recently from Sur La Table on sale. I also made a salad and served up my simple green beans in my new casserole dish  (on a sale within a sale) with rooster designs by Jacques Pepin.

James is interested, but still says "no thanks" when I ask if he wants to try some. He had pizza for Thanksgiving, but he managed to sit at the table with us through dinner, despite all the anxiety over the animals that he might encounter at his grandparents' (dog was in his kennel, cats were snoozing in a back bedroom). He looked like he was enjoying himself.

After dessert, (he tried pumpkin mousse pie and liked it!) He found a quiet spot, periodically ambushing his cousins with "can we do Hide and Seek now?" Just before Thanksgiving wrapped, the cousins indulged him in two games. James was delighted. Thank you, cousins!

While I helped with the clean-up, James politely shut himself in the laundry room with his Kindle, so the dog could come out of his kennel and the cats reclaimed their house. We looked for deer on our way home (a new fascination for him) but found none.

The next day, I discovered three things:

  1. James likes (regular) pumpkin pie.
  2. We are both thrilled to hear Christmas music on the radio.
  3. He likes The Ramones (he came in at the end of Spider-man: Homecoming).
He likes pumpkin pie!!!! That practically counts as a vegetable, right?!

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