Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. This holiday means a lot of things to me, not the least of which is my life will now begin to fly by until I wake up on New Year’s Day.
Today will be the preparation day for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be cooking, by the grandkids, clean up for me, football games for everyone else, and pies. Family has arrived from Arizona so there will probably be a few board games played as well.
Friday, for many, will be a day filled with shopping in large crowds for holiday gifts, but not for me. I gave this up years before COVID struck. Friday for me will be turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry sauce and more pie.
My family will probably go for a hike at Priest Point Park, unless rain is on the horizon. I will spend most of the day puttering, gathering eggs, feeding dogs and doing laundry. Laundry is one item rarely mentioned in conjunction with the holidays but always seems to need to be done – especially with extra heads on the beds.
We currently have eight chickens and five dogs in the household; two Alaskan Malamutes, one 90-pound lab, a pug and a Shih Tzu. Together they eat almost as much as the humans.
The chickens were chosen for their colored eggs. Saves time and mess around Easter. We now gather eggs that are already red, green, brown, blue and pink.
There will be lots of comings and goings throughout the four-day weekend, more meals to be prepared
Monday will be another major shopping day now known as Cyber Monday. I won’t participate in this event either, but millions of others will. The internet at my house will slow to a crawl, because of those millions online shopping, so I will probably do some laundry.
December will arrive, as always, filled with gatherings, phone calls, neighborhood get-togethers, meetings, preparations for celebrations, celebrations, company, more celebrations and laundry that will need to be done.
Decorations will be put up, discussions will be had about the feasibility of putting up outside lights, votes will be taken and more lights will be purchased. Perhaps this year we will remember to plug in and test the lights before we put them up. We probably won’t, but one can always hope.
It’s the busiest time of the year, and yet I seem to slow down a little more each time these holidays roll around.
I am perfectly content to let others take over the preparation of traditional meals and events that take place during this season. I find I enjoy their excitement and anticipation much more than I did when I was the one rushing around to make sure everything got done.
I love having their company, sharing our meals, hearing their stories and the gifting season.
But of all the wonderful people and things in my life, during this season, I am probably most grateful for the inventions of the washing machine, dryer and permanent press...
Kathleen Anderson writes this column each week from her home in Olympia. Contact her at kathleen@theJOLTnews.com or post your comment below.
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