Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Are the Holidays a Wind-up?

I sit this morning in the early dark drinking my strong black coffee with just enough sweetened cream to take the edge off.  I slept over seven hours which is my regular routine. While my sleep is filled with dreams these days, I do feel rested.  Hubby is still deep in slumber and will sleep closer to ten hours.  He is an energizer bunny with projects during the day and that activity coupled with his slight dementia means he will sleep through a long night.

The home across the river and a few houses up from us already has its holiday lights along the dock.  The weather has been cold for days with just enough of a breeze to make it feel much colder.  We have been putting off stringing the outside holiday lights hoping the weather will moderate somewhat.  While we have no snow and do not face the drama and hard work the folks north of us have endured, we are older and feeling it in our bones more each year.



Today I have to plan which pies I will bring to my daughter's house for Thanksgiving.  My three grandchildren and my son-in-law do not like fruit pies and so I am left to make some cloying sweet pies such as an Oreo cookie monster.  I will probably go ahead and make a key lime pie because I have a dozen kafir limes from my tree that need to be used while they are somewhat fresh.  I will also bring a side dish of sausage stuffing which they claim to like and which I make each year with Italian sausage and lots of herbs.  My daughter is ordering the rest from the local grocery.  We seem to be doing it lighter each year.



We cannot arrive the night before since my daughter has close friends that are using their guest room as a stopping place on their way north to visit their own family for the holidays.  So, we will arrive mid-morning and quickly say hello and goodbye to the guests which we know, eat our Thanksgiving dinner with the family, and then head back home mid-afternoon because my daughter and her family are then heading north for Thanksgiving with the in-laws the rest of the weekend.  My daughter's father-in-law has a form of MS which now requires he be placed in a care facility.  It is a sad time for all.  

My son and his wife are spending Thanksgiving out of state with his wife's family this year, so our long weekend will be quieter.

Ooops, my son just texted and said they may not be heading through the nasty snow to Erie after all.  Their little baby is fighting a long-term cold.  I invited them to join us at my daughter's and then come down here for the weekend where I can wait on them.  Seems everything is up in the air.  



I am an old lady and will certainly handle it all with aplomb (that is still a word, right?) as I am not going without electricity like those in Ukraine, and I am not facing grief like those who lost a child, significant other, or brother or sister in Colorado in the recent "mass shooting", and I am not spending the day in a holding shelter like so many that are homeless or those around the world who are refugees waiting for a reprieve.  I am winding up my one precious and privileged life slowly, ever so slowly.

I look for the light because the perception of where we are and who we are and where we are going is dependent upon finding light each day.




12 comments:

  1. Thoughtful post
    The holidays for me mean cooking to freeze the meat. It will last into February. Otherwise, holidays are a few decorations (few will see, unless I send photos), maybe a phone call, text or ecard, and another quiet day to myself. It has been this way for years. I only attended dinners years ago out of obligation. I dream of a holiday with aquaintences I gather, for a cook and have the meal outdoors.

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  2. I hope you and yours get your plans sorted well. Yes, comparatively, most of us do have it pretty well in this world by not drawing the short straw. WRT sleeping, Sue and I are opposite. She is the long sleeper, and I am the short one. Unfortunately, my sleep is shorter than yours.

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  3. This is a beautiful post. I am just getting ready to write my own pre-trip post, then taking one last look around for anything I might have forgotten. It's my first trip since the pandemic hit, and I'm more than a little nervous, but I've got my boarding pass on my phone and lots of time ahead before I get to my destination, before I feel the arms of my dear sister wrapped around me.

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  4. Sausage stuffing sounds good. I hope your travels are safe.

    Love,
    Janie

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  5. Our gathering will be small this year. None of the grandkids will be coming nor my sister for various reasons so it will be just five of us; my husband and I, my daughter and her husband, and their youngest who still lives at home. And I too am grateful for my privileged life. I am housed, warm, fed, clothed, and well.

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  6. A beautiful reflection for this time of Thanksgiving! Have a wonderful time with your family!

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  7. This is a beautiful post and it has me sighing and contemplating. Yes, we are so very fortunate with our privileged lives. As I was setting the table and arranging flowers a little while ago I was reflecting on why I love beauty so much, remembering growing up poor with no money for store bought flowers, but still warm and well fed and loved.
    Happy Thanksgiving, however it turns out. Hug your children and grandchildren and find that warm glow that being with loved ones brings. And yes, make that Key Lime pie!

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  8. Our holiday was just us but it was good for the food. Our son was having a large gathering at the farm and he seemed up to it. It was tough with our daughter. Her husband got Covid with his mother in the air to visit them. It took some maneuvering but hopefully his mom won't get it. Our daughter did and they both ended up at their lake cabin. Paxlovid cut the time of bad symptoms and wish all could get it who get Covid. I guess the doctors are cutting back some as more need it than there is. The test kits amazed me as we used to hear they were free. I guess they still are for those on Medicare (we haven't had a reason to try yet) but in the stores they run up to $10. Happy holidays indeed lol

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  9. Love the colours in the last photo. Thanksgiving sounds a stressful time for some. We don't celebrate it here down under but Christmas is a big family function. Hope you had a good day whatever you did. Now that we get older take things more layback, don't let stuff worry you. Keep healthy and have fun. Yes we are privileged compared to those in Ukraine I hate what I see on TV of how they have to live now.

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  10. I love how good you are about going with the flow and just being happy with what you have and grateful for what you have not (poverty, war, losing someone, etc.). I hope all went well and you had a marvelous time.

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  11. Thanks for a beautiful, thought provoking post, Tabor. Was there just a hint of melancholy? Maybe that is just what it stirred in me. I hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving which we don't do down here but I've always like the idea, especially as there are so many who have so little for which to be thankful.

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  12. If only I could aspire to all the great things you have done and blogged about. I am jealous of your limes. I love those.

    Hope your Thanksgiving was good. Ours was very late pm , no babies, and younger daughter had in-law year away. We had tons of teen-agers playing cards and video games. I brought pumpkin pie, which was decimated, and there were tons of cream-type store pies. We had a whole separate dinner for gluten free stuff for my grandson's girl and me. but I did eat some forbidden pie crust.
    I am getting tired of making my sweet potato stew with fresh onion, garlic, tomatoes, celery, Thyme, and Basi , all in the slow cooker, then I am the only one eating it! I keep saying I won't do it anymore, but I want it!

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