All Is Grace

this day did not begin quite as i expected. you know those days when, out of nowhere, you get slammed with a cold you thought you had escaped?

welcome to my Thanksgiving morning (because i seriously hope it wasn’t your Thanksgiving morning).

it was that weird sore-throat-in-the-back-and-top-of-my-mouth-where-i-couldn’t-swallow-or-clear-my-throat. annoying. but, i needed to finish the cakes, make a pie, make the other cranberry sauce, crumb coat the sweet potatoes, and oversee Laine’s bread-making. oh, and everyone else in the house needed showers too, so i played traffic conductor and alarm clock. the throat felt better after a while, so i thought maybe it had been a fluke (foolish girl), and we left for my parents’ to join the insanity around 11:30.

Laine’s braided bread.

all. the. pies. (and a dirt cake)(that’s gluten free/paleo pecan, lemon meringue, apple, pumpkin, and coconut cream)

the small peoples’ cake requests.

all the birthday people…Oct. 12-Nov. 28. with their respective desserts.

this was some sort of drawing competition (and yes, that’s sparkling grape juice).

we planned to eat lunch around 1, and things went very much according to plan (for which Joe was very grateful). it was fun to hear what the kids were thankful for right before we stood around the kitchen island and Dad blessed the food. we ate. a lot. and had way too many pies. we watched our fair share of football, the little kids destroyed the play room and discovered the race track my brothers played with as kids (which Ompy had to fix repeatedly…3-year-olds don’t have great hand-eye coordination). the women talked a lot about food and exercise and school, as we always do, and all of the adults had an emphatic conversation about the Ferguson riots (i’m married to a cop, after all)(interestingly, all 8 adults shared the same opinions with interesting perspectives). by 5…my throat felt like i had swallowed razors, my head was throbbing, and it was all i could do to move without the room spinning.

we headed home early, i fell asleep on the couch at 8:30, finally went to bed at 9:30, and slept for 11 hours. the night consisted of earaches and headaches and waking up every 2 hours…

but i’m thankful. thankful for that huge family. that too-much-food. those football games. those conversations with my most-loved people. that my kids were in the room with me as i prepared food, cheerfully helping and laughing at binge-watched episodes of Gilmore Girls and Flashpoint (thank you, netflix). i’m so thankful that in that same huge family with which i celebrated, i still have both my parents. that we have started our own traditions. that i have another turkey in my freezer waiting for a dinner with my in-laws. that next weekend, we’ll get our Christmas tree with them.

i’m thankful.

i’m pretty sure i have double ear infections, and a sinus infection that is trying really hard to become a chest cold, and i don’t love that my husband works nights on the weekend (or any time for that matter), or that i’m going to have to try to sing tomorrow morning with all of this muck in my head and throat…

…but i’m thankful.