Friday, November 29, 2013

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving.  It is my favorite holiday.  I usually have a pretty tight schedule on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I have learned, after all these years, to allow some Honduran things to happen. I started earlier and everything was fine.

That is until this year.

I normally make bread on Tuesday.   Tuesday morning Jackson had surgery and Josue had an appointment with the neurologist on Tuesday afternoon.  I only got half the bread made.  But what a joy that was, as Haley helped me. 

Only having half the bread done was an obstacle that could still be overcome.

Wednesday is the day the kids chop the onions and celery, grate the cheese and peel the potatoes.  Wednesday afternoon, they help me make cornbread and Haley and I make the pumpkin pies. 

Morning devotional was a bit crazy because the kids were so excited.  The noise level only grew as the morning passed.  When we started the tasks, everyone knew what they wanted to do and no one wanted to chop the onions.  Imagine that.  Reina said she would.

If Nicole and Debora had not helped chop onions, Reina would still be at it.  But she was diligent and did not stop until the very last onion was chopped.

Josue has not ever helped before.  He was standing there looking all sad because he did not have a job.  I was peeling potatoes.  I did not want him using a knife to peel potatoes, so I gave up my potato peeler and I peeled with a knife.  Josue did not like the potato peeler and soon put it down for a much better utensil, a butter knife.

Some of his potatoes were odd looking, but, he too, was diligent.  He even chopped a few onions with his butter knife.  He was so proud of his peeled potatoes.

Everyone worked happily at their chosen job.



I wasn't sure we would be able to get the table clean before lunch.  It took great effort, but we did.

Wednesday afternoon, Haley helped with the biscuits and Cindy did the first 2 pans of cornbread.






When I realized what still had to be done on Wednesday, I decided I just did not have time to make cornbread with the kids.  I can work faster alone.  Marc, Matt, Nicole and others were going to the soccer game and I was going to start marking things off that list.

I did.  It just took much longer than planned.  I am so thankful I have a gas stove. The electricity went shortly after everyone left for the soccer game.  I am thankful I have a lantern and plenty of batteries, too.  It is much slower to work by lantern light and have to carry the lantern every where you go.  I felt so pioneerish.  I got everything done that needed to be done by Wednesday night, but it was quite late.  Except the pumpkin pies.  The electricity came back on right before I went to bed.

To cover my bases, I earnestly prayed that the electricity would stay on at least until after the turkeys were cooked on Thursday.  I cook the turkeys in an electric roaster.

I was blessed that Marc moved an extra gas oven in for Thanksgiving this year.  I did not know at the time how big a blessing that would be.

I got the first turkey on about 45 minutes late and I was really ok with that.  It is what it is.  Brayan was helping with dressing and we got that in the oven  really late.  I was ok with that because we were going to be ok with that second oven.

At 9:15, the power went off.  I was confident it would be off for just a few minutes.  An hour later, I pulled the turkey out of the roaster and into the second oven.  A few years ago, I would have been having a complete meltdown.  I was really ok with everything. 

It was really cold and windy.  We decided to eat inside instead of outside.  That was being taken care of by other people. 

The kids were so excited.  It was too windy and cold to play out and the employees were busy in the Casa kitchen.

I have no work space in my house and had moved two tables in, both of which I had covered with with things.  Nicole moved the kids little table down into my living room.  She then brought all the boys from the big house down and they made oreo balls.


Jackson did well one-handed.

The boys wanted to eat the oreo balls.  We did not let them.  I wasn't sure there would be any oreo balls on the dessert table. 

Then the girls came to make chocolate no bake cookies.  As we more and more space was being used, Ana had to hold the bowl so the ingredients could be put into the pan.

Katy got to stir and she just could not keep her hands out of it.








Then there was a friendly little discussion as to whom would get the last scrape out of the pan.

And while the girls discussed it, Brayan said he would guard the oreo balls and the no bakes.
I am not even sure why Brayan was still there while the girls were.

Nicole, then went to get the kids in the little house to make banana pudding.  We are completely out of workspace, so she moves to the floor.

At some point, every single child except the twins got to do something.  And we still have no power.

Cindy worked on macaroni and cheese.  Ana worked on sweet potatoes.  And, Haley and I found time to get the pies done.


Even Emmy found something to sample.


The turkey samplers gave their approval.

After 4 hours, the power came back on.  There was a huge cheer.

All of the kids came to my house and watched tv.  I have always said Thanksgiving was about family, friends, food and football.  We had family, friends,  food and cartoons.  Three out of four is not bad. 





From early on, it was obvious lunch would be late. As guests began to arrive, the employees congregated at Casa and everyone else in my house.  It was so much fun.  As more and more people arrived, I kept saying I would put on a pot of coffee, but I can't. 

With all the problems, dinner was only an hour and half late.



I don't know of a time when more things have gone wrong. Or, when we have enjoyed it more.  The kids had great fun.  The fact that we pulled it off was a miracle in itself.  It was a huge team effort. 

I wanted to write this story last night, but when the power went off again, I decided it was time for me to go to bed.

I hope you had as happy of a Thanksgiving as we did.


















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