R Nest

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we are ready to go.  The turkey is in the fridge, the stuffing, yams, and potatoes are ready to cook and I am deciding the best way to transport everything to my sister-in-law's house.  Yep, life is full of compromises, and if you get the best of each world, you also have to accept the worst of each world. 

Now, my youngest, Cassie, wanted to spend the day in the kitchen creating our feast and then relaxing around the diningroom table together. However, my son, Adam, home from college wanted to be with the extended family. "After all," he reasoned, "that's why we moved down in the first place."

My sister-in-law invited over 20 people - all of them family - and of course deserves help with the preparation.  So when I accepted her invitation and asked what was needed, she said an entire turkey would be great.  Maybe, she suggested, I could cook the turkey the day before, and have it all cut up and ready to serve. So,  Cassie and I will get that wonderful traditional "together time."  And she and I will recreate the old recipes that my mom and sisters had made when I was a child.  And we will share the family lore and jokes that are remembered in the simple acts of cooking together. And after everything is ready, we will find dishes appropriate to shlepping hot food to the next house.  Because the holidays are all about family, and that's where I want to be.

Posted by Canary at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well I love the holidays, but I also detest them.  There are so many expectations, traditions and personalities to balance.  So two of the kids won’t be here, but two will be.  One wants an old-fashioned Thanksgiving in which we make the traditional turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy…the works.  The other wants an old-fashioned Thanksgiving in which we all gather at some elderly relatives place, dish-to-pass in hand, and hours of eating and kibitzing.  I am happy to do either, if they will just decide.  So I told the youngest to call the oldest and they can let me know.  I’ve got the turkey ready to pull out of the freezer, and my list with all the accoutrements for a fine feast in my purse, if that’s their decision.  And I’m also checking out all the great recipes on the internet to create a scrumptious dish-to-pass.  Hey, I wouldn’t want to disappoint all the old aunts.

Posted by Canary at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We spent 25 years making a living and raising our children, and suddenly we are laid off and the children are grown.  You have to ask what now?  Well, it’s a new time in life, but it is still our life and we find that we go on.  Sounds rather like a cliché but that is how it is.  And since we’ve done some things right, and we’ve had some luck, we find that we are still in a great place.  First, we moved.  I’m not sure that that was the best move to make.  The kids sure hated it.  But as the northern cities lost their industrial base, it made sense to move.  Only, we didn’t want to go too far, since we still wanted to enjoy the seasons and be able to drive back to our hometown to visit, so we moved from the shores of Lake Ontario to the suburbs of Philadelphia – further from friends, but closer to families.  And we took the kids with us.  The oldest had just graduated from the community college, while the youngest was just entering eighth grade.  Like I said, they hated it.  They missed their friends.  And cousins who had enjoyed their company during the yearly holiday visits now ignored them during the day-to-day tedium.  But, hey! You can’t go home again, but home is exactly where you are.  So this is home.

Posted by Canary at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)