One big blur

It is now Sunday morning and for the first time since Wednesday, I feel a sense of normalcy seep back into my routine. My sister and her children spent Thanksgiving with us for the first time. It was relaxing, laid back and almost down right lazy. The cleaning frenzy took place Wednesday, the cooking marathon Thursday and the lounging began Thursday night and finally came to a conclusion last night. We thouroughly enjoyed ourselves, lots of DVDs, board games, stringing popcorn and cranberries and the fleece blankie project kept everyone entertained. My daughter is now an addict, we already made a return trip to Joanns yesterday. She now wants to make them for everyone she knows for the holidays.

We really don't entertain for a crowd very often. My definition of a crowd would be 10 people or so. We do host Greek Easter and that has almost turned into an outdoor festival. In a few years, I'm afraid Elburn will make us get a permit for it. (More on Greekster as Spring approaches). But I would like to take a minute to applaud all the brave souls who take on the task of cooking for more than a dozen people. My hat is off to you, I don't know how you do it. I was proud of myself for making my pumpkin crisp the day before, doing a little prepwork and thinking smugly to myself, this is not so bad, I've got it all under control. Yeah...with two hours to go till the turkey was done, my sister and I are yucking it up in the kitchen, marveling at our timing and wondering what the big deal is to this holiday feast. My husband came in and asked if we had the potatoes done, (sweet and mashed), the green beans and any other casseroles we had, needed to be ready to go. We looked at each other and knew the answer we had was not what he was expecting. No, we didn't have any of that even started. No water boiling, no veggies chopped, no potatoes peeled...we were screwed. In my head, I could hear our dad laughing at us and the jabs would be flying if he were here. "You two couldn't find your way out of a wet paper sack let alone this kitchen!" But he would've been proud. A frenzy of chopping, boiling, measuring and mixing ensued and waged on for another two hours. My sister jokingly compared the pressure to that of Food Network Challenge! We recruited my nieces for dish duty and they obliged with the enthusiasm of a teamster who missed his coffee break. When we were out of the weeds, the dinner went out on time, everything was hot and nothing was burnt or raw. A miracle for me. All in all, a successful Thanksgiving.

The following 48 hours were all a blur. Never in my life have I been so lazy. Never have I watched so many movies or spent so much time with my ass firmly planted on the couch. My life starts every day at five a.m. and I rarely get to sit till bedtime, somewhere around nine, then I collapse on the couch. This past weekend was the complete opposite. My sister swears it's good for me and it's something I never do...all true but I'm happy to get back into my routine and off the couch. I also plan on fasting today. The heaviness of the holiday food stuffs is all too much for me. I'm craving a big green salad and a tall glass of ice water with a lemon. It feels like I'm a kid two days after Halloween, the thought of candy is sickening. That's how I'm feeling about carbs in general right now.

I hope everyone had a stress free (yeah, right) and memorable Thanksgiving. All eyes are on the prize of Christmas now. That is a topic for my next entry, too big to squeeze in here.