Twas the Minutes before Thanksgiving

Twas the minutes before Thanksgiving when all through the house everyone scurried to pick up the house even my spouse.  My brother and wife arrived with the pies and headed one at a time to the bathroom to freshen from their long ride.  Soon there was a whisper quietly in my ear “Your toilet will not flush for me I fear, could you please come in here”.

I ventured out of my kitchen the first time in six hours to check out the toilet to see what I feared.  The toilet was near overflowing with no plunger in sight.  I searched quickly and found the plunger and used it vigorously but to no progress was seen.  There the two of us stood over the toilet peering into the green colored water and she commented “It’s such a strange color because I took a vitamin this morning”.  I’m not accustomed to commenting on the color of urine but I’m glad she cleared that up for me.  She was clearly embarrassed and asked “Does it do this often?  To ease her discomfort I said “Yes, on occasion”.

I could tell that I was beyond my ability with the toilet at this time so I grabbed my husband and handed the project off to him and I returned to the kitchen.  Soon the rest of my guests started arriving in large numbers, my brother, wife and seven children, my sister and three kids, Mom and Dad and all four of my kids were home.  Twenty five in all and I was truly thankful for our second bathroom upstairs as each arrived looking for a bathroom. 

From the kitchen I could hear all kinds of racket from behind the bathroom door.  It sounded like my husband was doing battle with the toilet behind closed doors.  So I heard him call from inside ” Could you please sent Matt in here?”  I got Matt, my youngest son from the livingroom to tell him his Dad needed his help in the bathroom.  He looked puzzled oblivious to the problem in the bathroom.  He went in not knowing was he was in for.  Soon there was more noise yet in the bathroom.  Then they went down in the basement to get tools.  This can’t be good.  Back in the bathroom they went with tools in hand.  More racket from inside.  I couldn’t help myself.  I had to look inside to see what they were doing in there. 

I peered inside to see the two of them holding the toilet completely upside down shaking it vigorously to dislodge something from the toilet.  I wished I hadn’t looked it was a sight I really didn’t need to see with a house full of guests.  Then my husband reached up inside the bottom of the toilet .  He fished around and then handed me a pacifier that he retrieved from the insides of the toilet.  It seems our grandson who is just 16 months had thrown his pacifier in the toilet this past week.  His mom told me that he had learned how to flush the toilet all by himself.  He had flushed his pacifier and it got stuck.

Everyone laughed when they heard what  plugged it up but as I looked to my sister-in-law I saw a look of great relief to learn that she was not the cause of the plugged toilet.  I was happy for her.   My daughter later said to me “I suppose this is a story I will be hearing over and over for years about how my son plugged the toilet on Thanksgiving.”  I just smiled and said “Yes”

It was time for dinner now that the toilet dilemma was solved.  All the guests had arrived  and the food was ready.  Time to eat.  I had three table spread from one end of my livingroom out into my sunroom so we could all eat at the same table even if it was a long one.  We sat down and my husband said a prayer of thanks before we began eating.  We started passing the food.  We always pass clockwise but at the other end of the table they started passing counter-clockwise so we ended up with a traffic jam of food on one side of the table and none on the other side.  Started again with some instruction and then the food flowed freely.  It was fun to hear the chatter of my youngest nieces and nephews about the quantity of food.  There was very little left for leftovers when dinner was finished. 

Time for pie!  Now for the choices, pumpkin, apple, pumpkin, cherry, and Southern Pecan Cheesecake.  Once again not much left after everyone ate.  Everyone sat back and rested from eating and the cleanup began.  Dishes, dishes and more dishes but there was plenty of help.  After dishes everyone settled into various activities:  a game of Scrabble, other card games, kids playing in the snow, my niece playing her guitar, and others just visiting.  I am thankful this year for a holiday without political arguments that usually flow so freely among my brothers.  I am thankful that so many were able to join us for a day of making memories like a pacifier stuck in the toilet.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

This past week when my husband and I were out driving I spotted this turkey in a farm field and made my husband stop for a picture.  I’ve saved it for today’s post.

In our rural area we see a lot of interesting things made of hay bales.  Around Halloween farmers will take stuffed clothes and attach them to the outside of the bale  to make it look like someone was rolled up in it by the baler. 

At Christmas time farmers make huge snowmen out of the bales for decoration.  The most unusual hay bale art I saw was a tractor formed out of hay bales and then they sprayed it John Deere green to make it really look like a tractor.  Pretty cool!

In the past week I also had to dodge about a dozen wild turkeys crossing the road on the way to work.  It’s not the best photo but it shows the wild turkeys just the same.

May your day best blessed with the love of friends, family, words seasoned with kindness and bountiful food in a warm cozy home.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Jeanne

 

Christmas on the Menu for Thanksgiving

This is the view out my windshield as I drove home for lunch.  It wasn’t snowing this morning when I left for work but it was cold.  About eleven this morning it was like someone turned on a switch and the snow started falling.  It is snowing in earnest.  As I drove up to the post office the temperature read 24 degrees on the bank clock.  Everything about this day feels like Christmas. 

Tonight after work I will begin preparing  a dinner for 24 people not knowing whether anyone will be able to come.  We may be eating turkey for the next month if that happens.  I’m excited to try a few new recipes for this year’s Thanksgiving.

Part of my preparation for any holiday is cleaning the refrigerator.  It’s a job that I really dislike but who wants to open your refrigerator with company standing peering in as you try to find room for whatever they have that needs to be refrigerated. 

It’s always funny what people focus on when company is coming to get ready.  My husband always washes the front door because it is a full glass door and the first thing people see when they come to visit.  I always focus on the bathrooms and the kitchen to make sure they are clean.  My brother-in-law always starts cleaning the junk drawer at his home.  My brother focuses on his garage.  You never know who might like to sample his home-brewed beer when they visit.  My sister-in-law is a dusting freak and looks for cobwebs everywhere. 

Time to head back to work to finish out my day so I can get back home again and start preparing for the Thanksgiving meal.  This morning as I listened to the radio one family said that their tradition is to each take a piece of indian corn from a basket before they sit down to dinner and as they go around the table they tell everyone what they are thankful for in the past year and place the corn back in the basket for next year.

It might be our new tradition, a way to remember what we are truly thankful for this year.  I am thankful this year for new friends to share my thoughts.

Happy Thanksgiving!