Hey ROCKSTARS! We did it!! We all made it through the holiday where our entertaining, cooking, cleaning, baking, and hugging skills are put to the test. Am I right? 

Remember the song that says “Over the river and through the words to grandma’s house we go.”? Research tells me that it was originally written in 1844 as a poem published in a child’s book of poetry and titled “The New England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving.” Here’s another interesting fact, it was originally written to say “to grandfather’s house we go.” I have to think that over the years someone noticed it was grandma doing the cooking, cleaning and hugging, so the words were changed to reflect that. Can I get an Amen???

Well, we loved our Thanksgiving Day celebration! We had 56 for lunch and this was what we call our “small year.” Lol. We were missing my son’s family, my sister’s family, my uncle who is in the hospital, an aunt who was home sick, and Sadie who was on a honeymoon, so 23 of “us” were not there. Still we managed to find 56 to share the day with us. We had friends from as far away as New York City as well as friends from down the street. Like any good grandmother, I worried that we wouldn’t have enough food, but I was able to freeze a sweet potato casserole and two pies. So, we had leftovers! That’s a win for sure!! Willie upped his turkey game by wrapping his in bacon (see pic) and, by all accounts, it was delicious. I’m not a meat eater so the dressing was my favorite because my mom makes the best ever!! We’re so thankful she is still with us and doing great! Of course, there were desserts aplenty. Everything from a frozen ice-cream-pie-something to traditional pumpkin pie and whipped cream. 

I feel like I need to share some of the behind the scenes “fun” with you too, lest you think all was perfect at the Howard house. We had determined that, after the big wedding (for those of you who don’t follow, our granddaughter, Sadie, got married the Monday night before Thanksgiving. I’ll write more on that later. So fun!) the day would be low key and stress free. Low key might have been attained, but stress free is not gonna happen with 56 guests coning to your house at 1:00 for lunch. Just go ahead and cross “stress free” off your list of things to accomplish because it. will. not. happen. 

First of all, I ordered two turkeys thinking the turkeys would come sliced and table ready. I sent my husband to pick them up at 11:00 that morning. In keeping with my perceived stress-free plan, I wanted those birds here early and ready to take their place at the table.  At 11:30, my husband walks back in with two turkeys and warming instructions that required an hour and a half of oven time. WHAT!? My ovens were FULL! An hour and a half would be 1:00—eating time!! Sweet potato casseroles, a ham, corn casserole and rolls were all taking their turn in my two ovens. Where could I find an empty oven on Thanksgiving Day?? My daughter grabbed the turkeys and headed next door to my granddaughter’s house, thinking there was a good chance she wasn’t cooking. She wasn’t. In went the turkeys. Crisis averted. The birds were sufficiently warmed by 1:00, but the slicking was still in question, so grandson-in-law, John Reed, stepped with the honors. Whew! Another crisis averted. 

On to another “stress-free” event of the day. 

The day before Thanksgiving a large plastic bin full of memorabilia fell from my closet and crashed on the closet floor, spilling years of photos and event tickets and love letters, etc. all over my closet. I gave my sweet husband the job of clearing that box up before 56 people arrived for lunch. My idea of clearing it up consisted of putting in all in a box and hiding it until later. But his idea, as I discovered when I walked into the bedroom an hour before 56 people joined us for lunch, was to categorize and organize every piece of memorabilia right then and there by covering my bed with it.  I will confess that I may or may not have said something like, “This is not the time!” in voice louder than necessary. One would have thought that the fact that several tables were being set, by me, with real china and silverware and the smell of food cooking had filled the air since early morning and that I had not sat down for a week, that he would have been alerted that now was not the time to organize memorabilia. No, now was the time to take out the trash or make the bed or turn the lights on in all the bathrooms or any number of things that really needed to be done.  Bless him. But, he managed to file it all away in a way that satisfied both him and me. Another crisis averted. 

Also, an hour before the 56 (have I said that number before?) arrived, I suggested to two of my gorgeous granddaugthers, who were still sitting in their pajamas, that they might need to get dressed. One of them looked up at me and said, “What? People are coming HERE!” Apparently, they also missed me whirling around like a Tasmanian devil while they watched the Macy’s Day parade. My first thought was a line from Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Lol. Well, the girls headed to the bedroom and were ready to roll by the time company got here. A pajama-wearing crisis averted. 

BUT, it’s all good!  I was doing exactly what I wanted to do—getting my house ready to celebrate with the people I love the most. I’ve always said I would rather go to bed tired than go to bed just because it’s time to go to bed. I didn’t have to use the good plates and the fancy silver, but I wanted to. I wanted to give my best to the ones I love the most. 

So, here’s to all you ROCKSTARS who made turkey and dressing, baked pies, whipped potatoes, added cream of mushroom soup to some otherwise boring green beans, made sure tea was made, then cleared the tables and loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up all the toys thrown from room to room and still managed to make every single person feel loved and valued. You ROCK! That’s why your kids will go over the river and through the woods to get to your house! They love you too!

Now, put your feet up and get ready for CHRISTMAS!