Thanks Giving

Wednesday night and Thursday (Thanksgiving) were times that definitely enhanced my prayer life.

When I got home from work on Wednesday, I began to prepare for Nelson and the crew to head over to Annie’s. Nelson announced that since he and Ann had words, they weren’t going. He was only going over there to make a turkey on Thursday morning and since she didn’t care about that…so I had to call her and tell her that plans had changed—yet again.

Then the dilemma became how I was going to Sis not to come up. I couldn’t imagine three more people in my already too populated house. She covered me and informed me by phone call that she wasn’t going to come up because she wanted to cook her stuffing at home. Well, that was an answer to prayer.

Thursday morning began sweetly and that lasted about two minutes. Nelson was in a mood. We’ve been married nearly 27 years now. And I love him dearly, but whenever he knows he’s going to be around his parents he gets negative. His comments were negative and hurtful. At one point he looked at me and with all seriousness said, “I was trying to think of what I was thankful for, and I couldn’t come up with anything.” That definitely sent me to my room in tears and I took him and the hurt to prayer. It wasn’t just me he was being that way to, it was both the girls as well.

Aside from Nelson’s surliness, the day went well—even with snow predictions that made me quiver. Sis did arrive and I drove her car over to Annie’s. It was blowy snow most of the way. There was only one spot where the car seriously fishtailed and I kept it under control.

We got to Annie’s and put the final preparations on the meal. I had made sweet potato casserole and much to everyone’s surprise it was quite good. (My cooking is more generally the fodder for excessive joking rather than praise.) I even made the gravy! First time I’ve ever done that. And it was pretty good too. MIL and FIL were an hour and a half late. We started without them. And basically finished without them—except for Nelson who sat at the table and waited for MIL to show up with her pecan pie. Since there was pecan pie and pumpkin pie, my pumpkin bars were untouched. (We ate some when we got home and Nelson said they were even better than the sweet potato casserole. Now there was a comment I didn’t expect.)

Coming home I rode with Nelson, Jon, and Beth. It was a tight squeeze, but it went pretty fast. Once home I put away the food, played a couple of online scrabble boards, and toddled off to bed. That’s where I am now. I love snuggling under my quilts and typing on my laptop. But I will take the laptop downstairs in a bit so that Nelson has access to the internet there in his hospital bed.

I have three days off. Three. I know that one thing I’m not going to do is shop. I refuse to go out into the insanity of the holiday shopping masses this weekend. I may see if Rhonda wants to do something. I’m planning on little to nothing else. And it sounds wonderful to me. Cleaning will be to a minimum. Writing and reading will be front burner. Massive quantities of tea and turkey will be consumed. I am a happy camper.

So, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!