I love Thanksgiving! Every year I look forward to the feasting, nap and feast again. This is the first year I did almost the whole meal by myself. This is the first Thanksgiving after we got married where Tim is actually home and we had people over. Sadly, this was the first one that disappointed me. I've worked over Thanksgiving and even then it was better than yesterday. At least when I worked, people would bring me food and I would feel like I was loved.
I spent all day cooking. I woke up at 6:50 so I could start the pies. Pies that I told everyone I was making so what did they bring? Pies. I have 4 pumpkin pies in my fridge along with the other 3 that I made. All together there were 10 of us including children. We could have eaten just pie.
Unfortunately being the over planner that I am and thinking about how my family goes back to eat at least 3-4 times during the day, I had about 10 side dishes and some appetizers. Tim complained ahead of time that he thought it was too much food. I, of course, thought it was too little food and that we would run out. I hate it when I'm wrong.
Our guests arrived an hour and a half late, except for one faithful friend who came through with her mashed potatoes even after driving all night to get here. They stayed for a little less than 2 hours and there is approximately 1 tablespoon of food missing from each casserole. Then they politely excused themselves and left. So now I have enough food to do Thanksgiving every day for a month or so. And I don't expect people to help me clean up. In fact, most of the time when people ask me if they can help with anything, I politely decline because they are guests in my house. But it would have been nice if someone, anyone would have at least offered.
Thank goodness my husband is anal about getting the house back in order...'cause we all know I'm not! And since the festivities ended at 7, we had plenty of time to clean up. So the house is nice and clean again minus the few pots and pans we still have to put away and furniture we have to reorganize.
I'm not angry that I spent all day cooking for pretty much what amounted to nothing. I'm just disappointed. I've always spent Thanksgiving with family or good friends. I wouldn't have even minded cooking for strangers. What I'm angry about is that it ruined the whole experience for my husband. He vowed that we would never do Thanksgiving at our house again. We will either go to someone else's house or eat at a restaurant. He missed the last 2 Thanksgivings and he'll miss the next one. Why did this one have to suck? Everyone who knows me knows that I invite everyone. If you don't have anything to do and I'm planning something, you're invited....even if I don't know you...even if I just met you on-line.... Now I'm starting to regret that. Even though we have known these people for years and years, we're apparently not really friends and I made an error in judgement....
Friday, November 27, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Busy week....
I am feeling exhausted...and no I'm not pregnant. It has just been a very busy week. A few weeks ago I decided I had to visit Amy A. She's one of the few that has visited me without a return visit from myself....which I was reminded of every so often. So after working around her hectic travel schedule, we decided on a date. Of course, things did not go as smoothly as I had hoped.
About a week before my scheduled trip, I found out a good friend from high school was killed in action in Iraq. It was devastating. It happened the day before the Fort Hood shootings but I found out the morning after. Amy S. was a good friend. Even though time and distance separated us she always made an effort not only to keep in touch with me but all our other friends. Sadly, between all my high school friends...she was probably the only link left. She always wrote very encouraging e-mails to me. Not only was she in the army herself but she was also married to a soldier and they were stationed at different posts for the majority of their marriage. She was so excited to start their life together. They finally moved in together at the beginning of this year, bought a house, and deployed together over the summer. This was her second deployment to Iraq, his third.
I knew I needed to go home for the funeral but I had no idea when it would be. So I decided to go visit Amy A. anyways and just fly out from Nashville after the arrangements had been made. I needed to get away and luckily Katie and Sierra were able to join us. It was great catching up. We only got to spend about a day and a half together but I was happy to see how much Sierra has grown and Katie in the mommy of a toddler mode. Of course every time Katie chased Sierra, I would look at Amy, giggle, and ask...can we really do this? It was just what I needed to get my mind off of things for a little bit.
Then I headed home for the funeral. It was weird. There were all these people I recognized from high school but I didn't know their names. It was amazing how many people showed up for calling hours. I waited for about an hour and a half but some people waited up to 3 hours. Her old roommate from Germany was there and a few friends from Fort Lewis. Unfortunately most of her friends and her husband's support were still in Iraq. It was really tough to watch her husband. He has no relationship with his family so she was his only family.
A lot of people honored her memory during the funeral service. There were people holding flags through some of the small towns we drove through and fire trucks with ladders and flags raised. Our local newspaper announced the night before that the Kansas "church" that demonstrates at soldier's funerals would be in attendance for the funeral. I really thank God that they either didn't show up or there were so many supporters that we didn't even notice them there. I was able to catch up with some old friends and remember all the ways Amy S. affected our lives. Everyone kept joking about how mad she would be that we were all making such a big fuss over her. Please keep her family and especially her husband in your prayers.
After my brief trip home, I spent an additional day with Amy A. before returning to my hubby and pups. She even cooked me a wonderful meal and some really great tasting muffins. So now I'm back in GA, trying to get things back to normal. We're preparing for Thanksgiving at our house.
Rest in peace Amy Seyboth Tirador. We love you and miss you!
About a week before my scheduled trip, I found out a good friend from high school was killed in action in Iraq. It was devastating. It happened the day before the Fort Hood shootings but I found out the morning after. Amy S. was a good friend. Even though time and distance separated us she always made an effort not only to keep in touch with me but all our other friends. Sadly, between all my high school friends...she was probably the only link left. She always wrote very encouraging e-mails to me. Not only was she in the army herself but she was also married to a soldier and they were stationed at different posts for the majority of their marriage. She was so excited to start their life together. They finally moved in together at the beginning of this year, bought a house, and deployed together over the summer. This was her second deployment to Iraq, his third.
I knew I needed to go home for the funeral but I had no idea when it would be. So I decided to go visit Amy A. anyways and just fly out from Nashville after the arrangements had been made. I needed to get away and luckily Katie and Sierra were able to join us. It was great catching up. We only got to spend about a day and a half together but I was happy to see how much Sierra has grown and Katie in the mommy of a toddler mode. Of course every time Katie chased Sierra, I would look at Amy, giggle, and ask...can we really do this? It was just what I needed to get my mind off of things for a little bit.
Then I headed home for the funeral. It was weird. There were all these people I recognized from high school but I didn't know their names. It was amazing how many people showed up for calling hours. I waited for about an hour and a half but some people waited up to 3 hours. Her old roommate from Germany was there and a few friends from Fort Lewis. Unfortunately most of her friends and her husband's support were still in Iraq. It was really tough to watch her husband. He has no relationship with his family so she was his only family.
A lot of people honored her memory during the funeral service. There were people holding flags through some of the small towns we drove through and fire trucks with ladders and flags raised. Our local newspaper announced the night before that the Kansas "church" that demonstrates at soldier's funerals would be in attendance for the funeral. I really thank God that they either didn't show up or there were so many supporters that we didn't even notice them there. I was able to catch up with some old friends and remember all the ways Amy S. affected our lives. Everyone kept joking about how mad she would be that we were all making such a big fuss over her. Please keep her family and especially her husband in your prayers.
After my brief trip home, I spent an additional day with Amy A. before returning to my hubby and pups. She even cooked me a wonderful meal and some really great tasting muffins. So now I'm back in GA, trying to get things back to normal. We're preparing for Thanksgiving at our house.
Rest in peace Amy Seyboth Tirador. We love you and miss you!
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