Christmas music is already playing around the clock on certain radio stations. Stores are having pre-holiday sales to beat the rush. Though I have some presents purchased, I am not counting down to Christmas, there are too many milestones to meet and plenty of other stuff to do than listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving has past.
My Thanksgiving preparations start a week in advance. Tonight I went to the grocery store and took advantage of the super low turkey price and bought an eleven pound bird to make the ultimate stock for the stuffing and gravy. I’ll share my stock recipe tomorrow.
Cleaning and polishing will happen this weekend. Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with these details, just know they are happening.
In addition to planning Thanksgiving, we will also partake in bits and pieces of Hanukkah. We light candles every night, play dreidel for chocolate gelt and, my favorite part, make latkes and matzo ball soup Wednesday night next week to kick off our long weekend. We aren’t Jewish, we don’t even pretend to know what we’re doing (except I make some awesome latkes), but we appreciate the traditions of other cultures, so why not. Just don’t tell my kids gifts are involved, what they don’t know, won’t hurt them.
Turkey prep, no school, no work, house cleaning and polishing, Hanukkah festivities are all great and we’re excited for next week to arrive; however, none of these are what has us SUPER excited. What has us jumping up and down in anticipation is the arrival of our nineteen year old daughter/sister that we haven’t seen since JULY! Ooooh we can’t wait!
I use her arrival to put off everything my kids want. My nine year old wants egg nog, not until your sister gets here. My eight year old wants everything, no, not until your sister gets here. My husband wants to know when he gets a break from his project list, after our daughter gets here. The best part is that they are so accepting of this rule. You’re right, we’ll wait.
I hope she realizes how loved and missed she is and the explosion of emotion that will greet her late Tuesday night. Of course, little miss Southern California will be in a state of shock from the ice cold temperatures we’re having right now. I’ll remind her to wear, not pack, her down coat.
Not only will my family be together, my nest full, we ALSO get to eat pie and date bars and latkes and so many other fantastic holiday foods. Isn’t that what Thanksgiving is about? Bringing together the ones you love and sharing a delicious meal. HAPPINESS! I can’t wait. The fun starts tomorrow. My house will smell like Thanksgiving early tomorrow morning, as soon as the stock is made.
multi-hyphenated-me 