Gratitude

I'm thankful that Thanksgiving is over.  I don't mean that in a bad way!

It was a wonderful day.  Elsa and i got so much work done, tho we couldn't have done as much had Frye not come and done dishes for us frequently.  We made 4 pies and a cheese cake, cranberry relish, two types of green bean casserole (with the homemade cream of mushroom soup i made the day before), a corn salsa, and we baked store bought rolls.  Elsa did most of it.

Elsa did most of the pies and the corn salsa.  She made two apple pies, one with regular crust and another (well, i kind of did the crust) with an almond crust.  I'll explain that if i need to (if you want to know).  I did almond crust for the cheesecake, too.  She also made two pumpkin pies with gluten free crust that we didn't even try to roll out; we just pressed it into the pie plate.  The green bean casserole turned out fairly well.  Next time on mine i'd use almond slices instead of slivers.  The slivers made it a bit too crunchy.  The cranberry relish turned out well, too.  Tart, not too sweet, but, i used too much liquid so that it was rather too runny, but the taste is good.

This pic of Elsa and Frye is from last year.

 (This is also from last year; we've not had this much snow quite yet.) 


Elsa's corn salsa is just amazing.  It is the most unusual combination of things i would never think to mix.  It has raw onion, raw jalapeno, cilantro, corn, tuna, and some mayo (we used Vegenaise).  Frankly, i don't like raw onion or jalapeno much at all, but the combination of all this is something i do like very much.  Duane's cousin said, "It is like a party of multiple flavors in my mouth."  Elsa and i both thought that very accurate.  (We made a small amount for Duane that was everything but cilantro, which he does not like.)  She made a very large bowl of this and there was only a little bit left to divide when we came home.  


Duane's family was so very thoughtful, too.  They made things with me in mind that did not contain any gluten.  The result of all this was that i, quite frankly, had far too many carbs and was very sleepy after the meal, but it was nice and pleasant, and i'm fairly certain i didn't get any gluten contamination.  I do think one of his aunts (who had brought a number of desserts) was upset with us for bringing so many (we left one pumpkin pie at home).  But i eventually explained that if we didn't bring any that i would not have been able to eat any dessert at all.  And i wanted dessert!  That seemed to calm her down.  


Of course, i don't need any dessert, but i did want it!


His family was amazing, too.  He has one cousin who in the past has not been particularly pleasant.  But each year i'm just amazed at how she has matured and is so considerate and friendly.  And - a very thankful praise, no uncomfortable family issues came up.  It was just a very pleasant time, tho both Elsa and i were pretty tired.  

Elsa and i did a little shopping yesterday, but neither of us were really "in" to it.  I bought some yarn, mostly.  They left about 2 yesterday afternoon.  I spent most of the rest of the evening knitting, tho i didn't do much.  I've so many projects i'm working on, i shouldn't be starting any that are new!

We've not yet begun to decorate for Christmas.  I know lots of folks do, but i'm not comfortable with doing it until December, at least.  We always have the tree up before the 10th.  I really lean toward wanting to put it up Christmas Eve, but that is a difficult tradition to hold in our culture.  Many more people put it up early and take it down on Boxing Day.  The tradition of putting it up on Christmas Eve and taking it down after Epiphany is long gone, i think. 


I'm simply thankful for it all.  It was a nice holiday, and this weekend will be a nice breather to be ready for the next phase.  :)



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