The Day Before Thanksgiving

And all through the house everyone was stirring. And chopping and grating and peeling.

I was on duty with the kids from 7:00-12:00. After morning chores, we began the chopping and grating in the kitchen and Karen began the peeling outside. There were eight kids in the kitchen with me. All were just as excited as could be, even the ones chopping the onions. I am not sure why the excitement about chopping onions today, when some of those same kids complain and whine when they have kitchen duty on other days.

I was impressed. Eight kids for a couple of hours and only one argument. One thought he was a celery-chopping expert and no one else could do it right. And what a mess they made. I had most of it cleaned up before Dilcia saw it.

For the afternoon, I still had several batches of cornbread to make and the pumpkin pies. These are things that almost second nature to me, but I decided to bring the kids to my house, one by one and let them do these things. Brayan came and made one patch of cornbread. Rosy came a made a pie. Jose came for more cornbread and Cindy came for another pie. That was all that came. I was surprised at how precise Rosy was at measuring everything and trying to do everything right. Jose had a lot of fun and Cindy was beside herself when we opened the pumpkin. Brayan was impressed by the electric mixer.

After the cornbread or the pie was in the dish, I let each one lick the spoon or the beater. Jose loved raw cornbread batter. Cindy was not going to leave anything in that bowl. She had it all over herself. She thanked me when she left.

Yes, I could have done all of that much faster by myself, but those kids had a wonderful time and it was so worth the extra time it took.

The first turkey goes in at 5:00 in the morning.