Thanksgiving Eve 2017

Here we are at Thanksgiving time again.  It is the first Thanksgiving for Michaela as a college student.  She came home on Friday after a long drive.  She and her roommate, Carolyn left Kirksville with another passenger and headed towards Hannibal so they could stop at The Mark Twain Diner for root beer.  They then drove to Webster Groves to drop off their third passenger and then came home in rush hour.  She was exhausted.

Michaela and I spent a lot of time together on Saturday.  In the morning we went to the rock garden on 5th Street and left a bunch of my painted rocks.  We took a few, too.  Then we headed out to Warrenton so I could show her Binkley Park.  We left a lot of rocks out there including most of the ones we took from the rock garden.  We also left rocks at St. Peters City Center Park and The Recplex.  Then, we had to pick the dogs up at the groomer on the way home.

Then, Saturday night, Michaela and I went to see The Penelopiad at St. Charles Community College.  One of Michaela's friends from high school was in it.  She was Penelope before Penelope died.  I was really excited to see it because it is based on a Margaret Atwood book and I love Margaret Atwood.  It was really good.  Michaela and I both enjoyed it.  And, Michaela's friend did a really good job.

Sunday, we went to church and had dinner at church.  After church, Gale came over and Michaela and I went shopping with her.  Michaela came home with jeans and sweat pants. It was fun spending time with them both.

I had to work Monday and Tuesday.  Tuesday we did not have classes.  The students stayed with their 4th hour teachers all day.  First, we went to the movie theater in Warrenton and saw Wonder.  It was a fantastic movie.  When we got back to school it was lunch time.  After lunch, we had our Turkey Trot.  Then, we spent the rest of the day in the gym for a unity assembly and our winter sports pep assembly.

Which brings us to today.  It was a busy Thanksgiving Eve.  Michael had to work.  I was up by 6:00 am and started cleaning.  I went through all the books and DVDs in our entertainment center and bagged up the ones I wanted to get rid of.  The kids were up and helping me clean by 9:00 am.  Around 11:00 we left to run errands.  I ended up with around $90 in store credit at V-stock with the books and DVDs that they accepted.  The ones they rejected we took to Salvation Army and donated. It always feels good to purge.

We got home after 1:00 and cleaned the rest of the afternoon.  This is what we do every year on the day before Thanksgiving.  It is the best cleaning our house gets all year.

Tonight I made the deviled eggs and stuffing.  Michael and Michaela made two pumpkin pies and cranberry relish.  I showed Michaela how to prep the turkey.  I always put the turkey in the over around 10:00 pm because I like to slow roast the turkey over night like my mom did when I was growing up.  I also stuff our turkey.  I love stuffing and it tastes better out of the bird, plus I feel it helps keep the turkey moist along with the slow roasting.  This is the first year I am not terrified something may go wrong with it.  I am still a little nervous.  Twenty-one pounds of turkey is a lot of food to mess up.  But, I've been doing it for many years now so I should have the hang of it.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and my mom, Griff, Brandon and Karen will come over around 11:00 am.  That is less than 12 hours from now.  We will have our usual meal, everyone will eat too much and be lazy all afternoon.  We may play a board game or two or not.  Michaela wants to watch the parade.  By tomorrow night at this time another Thanksgiving will have come and gone and I will be sleeping with my alarm set to get up and be at Bass Pro Shop by 5:00 am because that is where Michaela and I always start Black Friday.