We had a great holiday, but it was just our little family. That's okay. I didn't stress out about the food. Honeybaked Ham supplied the turkey and ham, and we were all fine with that. Roasting an enormous turkey is wasted on our family because we all just see turkey as an accompaniment to the dressing.
We almost had pork roast, but in the end I decided thawing it out and then roasting it all day was too much trouble. Sending Mike to Honeybaked was much easier.
I made dressing and gravy, and sauteed spinach. [Bruce brought in a bag of spinach from Costco which was as big as a 20 lb. bag of dog food!] I pre-made a big bowl of mashed potatoes, then forgot to warm them for the meal. I made pumpkin and pecan pies -- which didn't last long. Instead of leaving the pecans whole, I ground them up. That allowed Mom to eat a piece of pie without worrying about chewing the pecans.
I have joined a Facebook group for people who like to cook and everyone was posting about how to cook turkey. I suggested they all just go to Honeybaked Ham. I am sort of waiting for them to kick me out of the group... LOL
Mother has had a long road to recover from the ordeal of being in the hospital and then the rehab place. When she came home from rehab she had impacted bowels. Just within the last 2-3 weeks she has finally started feeling pretty normal again, thank goodness. Walking is still a challenge. The big news is that with Bruce here to help, she went down the two steps into the family room, then up the two steps into the kitchen, and ate with us in the kitchen. She used her rolling walker to get across the family room floor.
Our house was built in 1968 and the family room floor is "sunken" -- Bruce built a step in between the floor and made one big step into two small ones, years ago. It helps Mom -- two little steps are easier for her than one big one.
IN OTHER NEWS...
Michael has started a new job working at Firehouse Subs in Tucker, as a cashier. He didn't have to work on Thanksgiving, thank goodness.
I have had a hard time sleeping with the heat on in the house but I have found a solution. I put a dab of Vick's VapoRub just inside my nose before bed. Keeps the nasal passages open so my throat doesn't dry out from mouth breathing.
My garage door opener decided to stop working. I called my neighbor who is a handyman, about fixing it. Hoping he can give me an estimate this week and it doesn't involve replacing the entire door opener.
I got all my Christmas decorating done on Thanksgiving except for the outside of the house. The pre-lit tree we bought years ago? Only a few of the lights still work. Had to buy a new strand of lights at CVS on Thanksgiving Day because Bruce had to go back and it's easier doing the tree with his help, because he's tall. There are no lights at the very top of tree but I refuse to stress about it..
I have now done 99% of my Christmas shopping [online] -- YAY!
