We spent our first thanksgiving as a family of four at our house with my in-laws. The morning of it was bright and sunny and we made a last minute run to the grocery store for some things we had forgotten. The store was oddly quiet and it practically felt like we had the place to ourselves. Within minutes of arriving there Birdie spotted a gigantic turkey balloon that she of course had to have. It ended up being the best $6 I've ever spent as it kept her perfectly calm and behaved the entire time we were shopping (a rarity these days). I threw in a few bags of cranberries, sprigs of rosemary and a half dozen pomegranates, as they were selling them a dollar a piece and one never turns down a pomegranate for that price, and we headed for the checkout.
Back home we prepped and then cooked. The next couple of hours were spent baking, roasting and basting until our home was filled with the divine aroma of THANKSGIVING. You know what I mean right? The smell of roast turkey melded in with pumpkin and apple and sweet potatoes. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy again to just think of it. All that hard work was of course gone within minutes but it was definitely worth it. Even Birdie liked my turkey!! In fact she's had it for lunch almost every day since then and papa bear and I put it to good use yesterday when we made some sandwiches with it. But now I think I'm really done. Until next year that is.
On Friday we drove up to Asheville to spend some time at a secluded little cabin, enjoying the outdoors and each other's company. We literally had no wifi there and it was quite a lesson in unplugging (it's kind of frightening the way my hands have been conditioned to always have that little box in them). Birdie absolutely adored it there. She spent the entire three days running around, yelling "CAW!!" at every passing bovine and she even befriended the owners sweet dalmatian. This kid and her energy... If only I possessed one tenth of it I would be infinitely more productive and we would all probably be so much happier. Instead I continue dragging my tired self through each new day as best as I can. Toddlers man... that's where it's at. I'm convinced!