Saturday night Hannah and I cooked a full Thanksgiving meal for us at home. It was wonderful to head south to see Eric’s family for Thanksgiving, but I can’t stand not having turkey leftovers. Wal-Mart had fresh turkeys on sale for $.39 a pound, so I bought three. We cooked the smallest one (9 lbs), along with sausage and apple stuffing, sweet potatos with marshmallows, mashed potatos (Hannah’s new favorite), corn, and gravy. Total yum fest. Also taught Hannah how to make apple pie. Wish I’d taken some pictures–the two pies (she made one and I made the other) turned out really well, and the one we brought with us down south was the first pie to disappear).
Anyway, Luke said a very eloquent grace for us Saturday night, and then Hannah suggested that we each go around the room and tell each other what we were thankful for. It was enough to choke me up–I am so very lucky to have the family that I do.
I’m also thankful for friends who realize that easing back into the last month’s work of work for the year can be a little traumatic. I’m sorry that Nathania isn’t feeling well, but I’m grateful for the excuse to bring a loaf of fresh sourdough up to Sunnyvale for a quick visit and lunch. I’ll end up driving about a hundred miles today (it’s 26 miles to Purlescence, another 11 to Luke’s swimming lesson this afternoon, and then another 23 to Cupertino for tonight’s meeting), but it’s so worth it to me. And I never mind spending time in my truck with the radio on. Although I have to admit that I’m really looking forward to when the new master cylinder comes and the brake pedal stops sinking to the floor.
Which brings me to another thing I’m thankful for–that DH is so competent with all our automobiles and bikes. Last week he managed to replace my brake pads, adjust the drums, fix the burned out turn signal, and fix one of the major clunks (a broken stabilizer) under the truck. He also replaced the speakers in his car, replaced all the fuel system filters, replaced all the fuel lines, and a few other things to update the required maintenance for the Mercedes. He’s a little stumped on the last vacuum problem, and HATES doing bearings, so the car will end up at the shop for some repairs, but I can’t even begin to count how much money he’s saved us in basic repairs over the last 15 years.
I’m also thankful for the afternoon sunshine on my office wall outside. Booker is sitting up, leaning against the warm wall, basking in the sun. Perdita is sitting like a little doe with her feet all tucked underneath her, eyes closed and a sleepy chihuahua grin on her face as she warms her old bones in this incredible California sunshine.
I am not, however, thankful that there are only 24 days until Christmas. Holy crap, do I have a lot to do!