Thanksgiving broke me.
Thursday itself was tense: a family member’s health scare coupled with last minute altering of plans made for an uncertain and anxious dinner. We argued civilly, everyone a little on edge waiting for news from the hospital—though we all knew it wouldn’t placate our nerves. No one expects the older members of our family to simply “bounce back.” It will be days or weeks yet before we can settle down.
And, really, none of us are getting younger. The older I get, the more acute that realization becomes.
Then Black Friday Came
We don’t buy into the capitalist holiday festivities at my house, seeing as we’re all far too socially anxious to brave the insanity out there. However, the day holds plenty of stress for us due to our tradition of cooking our own private family Thanksgiving dinner. Yup, we have two Thanksgiving days.
And in many ways, it’s absolutely wonderful!
This year, I decided to add in two new dishes. Overall, I took responsibility for six different dishes: mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, candied mashed butternut squash, brussels sprout casserole, and baking the rolls. I kept a detailed list of all the tasks required, and prepped some stuff a couple days prior so it wasn’t overwhelming. Everything seemed completely doable.
I even had some help, too. Mortal sat with me peeling potatoes and generally body doubling through much of the process. Until the last couple of hours, it was a mostly relaxing experience.
But that mad rush to get everything on the spread at a warm temperature (which I didn’t achieve, btw) was brutal. And I’d been on my feet the better part of the day.
It all knocked me for a loop. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I would recover—yet, I did. And I know exactly why.
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