So we decided that I would make a turkey breast with some mashed potatoes and stuffing (for him). Then my loving husband of now 14 years together (25th was our anniversary) added the cranberry chutney I do -to the list. Okay, I can freeze the rest, if needed (since I can't eat it). Then the list grew some more to deviled eggs. Mmmm, okay. I could eat those later in the week. Lastly, apparently we needed pumpkin pie.
Now, my head is spinning and I worry that my body will not hold out to do it all. I gave myself the much needed pep talk, put my big girl panties on and got to work on my day-by-day list of what I could do when. All finished with that, I looked it over and was very pleased! I should still have time to work on a project at home I have neglected for over a week!
Let's stop the happy dance there! Why? Well, hubby comes home from work and tells me that he wants to take his team dinner on thanksgiving. Yes, the place he works for is open on that day (grr... pet peeve I have on that subject). Okay. So he looks over the store ads and finds a good deli deal where a meal for 4 people is $10 with all the fixings. Great! I can make an extra batch of pies and he can take those to top off the meal. Since the side items are only a total of 2 lbs, I offer to just cook up the bag of potatoes I got at the store (I never made myself the potato soup I wanted to and they will be going bad soon) to help out.
The next few days I keep asking if he called the order in. Knowing the deli, we need to move fast or they will not have the food. By Monday he still had not done it. Then Tuesday he placed the call, just to find out that there are no turkeys available. They offered him chicken for the same deal. For some odd reason our store was never shipped the turkey. He gets 2 roasted chickens for the team of 20 - 30 people. Since one roasted chicken will serve 2 - 4 people... I put the offer out there that I could cook a turkey for them, if I could find one. <Shoot foot now>
Tuesday night I run to the store to find a turkey breast. Going down the isle, there were 2 other people looking for birds too. I hurry, there are only 3 left. None of which exceed 8 lbs. Can't be picky at this point. I grab 2 and head to the check out. Get home and give it the much needed bath in the sink and cross my fingers it will thaw for the morning when I need to cook it. He needed the thanksgiving meal for 10am on Thursday, so Wed I had to cook it all.
I think I made it to bed about 2am on Tue night (wed morning) making 3 batches of cranberry sauce, 3 batches of pumpkin bars (no time for pies) and making our stuffing. Wed I was up a little early and got started on the turkey, made 8 lbs of mashed potatoes, made our deviled eggs and he made the gravy. When it was all done, I packaged it all up, did clean up and hit the bed!
Thursday came too soon. I was up at 8am to reheat the mashed potatoes and turkey. Put the pumpkin bars in tins to go and help load the car. I know my husband would have done all that without me, but I was awake after he got out of bed, so why not. After that I fell asleep a little too long and our turkey didn't get put in the oven on time. I really had to push myself to go do it, or I was just going to continue to sleep. Around 2pm it went into the oven. The dressing and corn just needed to go in after the turkey was done. Then we would be set, dinner would be done and it would all be over! I think I was a little too quick to rush it. As I proudly told hubby dinner was done and he needed to come do the gravy and cut the turkey I realized I didn't make us mashed potatoes. The instant kind in the pantry came to the rescue. I was upset that I forgot something for our dinner. It's my guess the 8 lbs I did for the other people got me confused. The good sport he is, he didn't care (too much), we all know the real ones are better! Then, during clean up I found our cranberry chutney and deviled eggs in the fridge. Really?! I can't feel too bad, as he didn't realize they were missing either.
Next year I will certainly do things different!
At least my tummy is hanging in there. It's not the greatest and certainly not the worst. And I know that I was the one that put the extra pressure on myself to try to do everything. Days like this I really do miss how much I could accomplish pre-GP, I also know that I need to enforce my limits by saying 'no', since I already know most of my limits. That is a part of me that will be very hard and I will slowly work on. I had to with the new job I have now and after breaking down in tears in front of my new boss, I know my tummy is thankful for less hours. Realizing it and saying it out loud are two very different things.
Knowing that any one of those people may not have had a hot dinner to go home to, and we helped provide that for them, made me feel good. That is what THANKSGIVING is all about. Giving Thanks. And it was my way to say thank you to them and in turn they told my husband to tell me what a great job I did and how much they appreciated it. That made the GP suffering well worth it.
Food wise? I did just fine with a few bites of turkey, fake potatoes and a small amount of dressing. Sipped my mint tea and snuggled in for a movie. What could be better?
Hope you all had a relaxing Thanksgiving as well as a Good Tummy Day!
