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The Best Thanksgiving Ever? [1]
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Date: 2022-12-20
Happy & Merry ChrismaHannuKwanzakah
When our eldest married, like many families, we had to make adjustments for holiday times.
This meant our annual family Thanksgiving became a bi-annual one.
When the second & third ones married, they adjusted their new family’s schedules to ours.
Then came COVID & it all went to hell but, finally, for the first time in 3 years-all 14 of us and my Sister-in-Law would be at our now multiple tables to share a meal & enjoy some desperately missed family time.
Menus were created, everybody was bringing dishes & we had the added delight of celebrating #2 granddaughter’s 12th Birthday at lunch.
Sounds perfect, right?
The following is 100% true:
Tuesday November 22- It begins
Our son, DIL & 2 youngest “grands”, ages 3 & I are arriving from NJ & as I prepare, I go to do a load of laundry but when I enter the laundry room, I smell gas.
I call my husband but by the time he comes down the smell has pretty much dissipated. He looks over the furnace, no red lights or obvious issues & the heat is on.
The family arrives-oh joy & a lovely evening occurs but when we awake early on:
Wednesday November 23 -Brrr
The house is a chilly 60 degrees & the furnace is dead!
We put in an emergency call to our HVAC company & we go on with our day. Thankfully they arrive by early afternoon, $150 & a 1 new ignition switch later, we have heat. The rest of the day is full of food preparations, a visit to a playground with cousins for birthday muffins & fun.
Thursday November 24 - Thanksgiving - A day which will live in infamy
The clan arrives early for Birthday lunch & while baking pizza, middle daughter notes oven temperature to be “ a bit off” but pizza cook & enjoyed.
Everyone is helping to prepare, having fun inside & out as it was a glorious & sunny 60 degrees.
As they frolic & after cooking a 12 lb bird for 3 hours, I remove the turkey which looks...um...pale?
Luckily, I had decided to Instapot an extra 6 lb turkey breast which was perfect & amidst all the cooks in the kitchen, I just let the bird rest.
Upon carving we realize it was raw so we regroup quickly, put some pieces in the Instapot & the rest back in the oven at a much higher temperature.
No matter-we still have a cornucopia of delicious dishes & have that long awaited family Thanksgiving dinner.
As we begin the big clean-up, some are watching football, kids are playing in the basement & suddenly my 19yo grandson rouses himself from his food coma & says, “Sorry, Meema, but there’s a leak in the basement ceiling”
“Where & crap?” asks Detective PopPop as they begin to follow a wet trail up into the kitchen & find...a dripping garbage disposal.
We close the sink area & begin lugging all the dirty dishes, implements, pots & pans in big baskets up & down to the utility sink.
Suddenly my sister-in-law has a massive nosebleed & while I am helping her?
The smoke alarm goes off.
We look at each other & just shrug.
Thankfully it was just our son who, in starting a cozy fire failed to check if the flue was open, so a quick adjustment, open the windows, wave around a damp towel & again, all’s well.
Desserts are a bit underbaked ( the damn oven again) but still delightful. The family departs & by 11, except for 2 additional “grands” sleeping over and exhausted I get my nightly ice water &...there’s no ice.
Laughing I go up & tell a very tired spouse & he goes down to check everything preparing to call both the Plumber & the Refrigerator repair on Friday AM.
Friday November 25- 5:43AM - Sickness & $$$
Poke, poke, poke -my 10 yo grandson says the 3 yo is crying, I hustle awake, get him to the potty & whisk him into our room. He says, “I want to play” I say, “It’s still dark-you have to go back to sleep” & mercifully he does until a decent 7AM.
Calls to both service groups are made but then our son wakes up clearly sick and unable to make the 4 hour drive home. Bonus? A very happy 3 yo boy who wanted to stay, “One More Sleep.”
We let daddy sleep while we check the ice-maker which appears to be working so cancel that appointment.
The Plumbers arrive, $600 & one new garbage disposal later, we have a functional kitchen sink area.
I insist our son go to an Urgent Care Saturday AM before driving home & Friday evening remains uneventful.
Saturday November 26 -Misery loves company?
As my daughter-in-law, grandson & I finish breakfast, young man pushes my chair & says “move!”
As I do the chair shifts & lands right on the toes of his left foot. Screaming in pain, we do our best to calm him while my son gets ready to go to his appointment. That visit then became a party of 3 as they had him X-rayed for broken bones (none). Son has both ear & sinus infections & finally, loaded with antibiotics they depart for home.
5 minutes later... Hey, are these their jackets?
One quick call, one big U-turn & we throw them in through the car window & off they go.
The clean-up begins in earnest and it takes the better parts of Saturday and Sunday to restore order.
Epilogue - Monday November 28- Seriously?
We are enjoying our frequent SKYPE dinners with the kids & boom, the power goes OUT.
How widespread is it, how long will it last & what happened?
As it made National News, this small plane with a pilot & 1 passenger somehow crashed into the Transformer of our Power Company. Hundreds of thousands of us were in the dark anywhere between 2-12 hours ( we were dark for 7½ of them).
Almost immediately several of my friends who knew how crazy our Thanksgiving had been, texted me & said, “This is your fault!”
I could not even disagree.
May you all have a much calmer Holiday season.
Cheers to a happy & healthy 2023.
[END]
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