Each year, right about this time, I make food lists for the coming holidays. Anything that you can do in advance is a great help. And so I begin.
My starting point is always a review of what I did last year and what I can carry over into this year's holidays. It's tricky because our holidays are never the same. Sometimes we have the Madison young family for Thanksgiving Day and that's it. Sometimes (rarely), it's just Ed and me. Sometimes (also rarely) everyone is here. And of course, last year was crazy lonely for everyone, since no one ate with anybody else. We were all in our separate bubbles, zooming, but otherwise keeping our distance.
Compared then to 2020, anything is an improvement. And indeed, this year is several steps in a terrific direction. Still a little funky and goofy, but pretty good, considering.
The trick this year is that the holiday for me starts early and lasts for several days. So meals have to be carefully planned. Grocery lists have to take into account limited fridge space. My energy level has to be split perfectly between all days, since one is no more no less important than the next. And it's all saddled into the regular rhythm of a week. I mean, it's not as if for Thanksgiving week there are meals to do and nothing else. Kids still come to the farmhouse, Ed still messes up the couch cover, the cats still demand their time of face and belly rubs.
I'm thinking of all this on the cold days of a nippy and wet, but still mightily golden mid-November.
(Last year at this time, not a leaf was left hanging on the maples or the crab apples. This year? Look above, look below.)
Sunday is the one day of the week when I have much to do inside and rarely need to be anywhere beyond the farmette boundaries. The kitchen is my focal point. From breakfast onward.
Evening dinner for the family is my anchor.
I rarely take many photos when the young guys come over. There's a lot of activity everywhere! But today, there were these clusters of kids in various places that just begged for a camera shot.
(And then Sparrow joins in...)
(And mommy takes the babe...)
(And of course there is dinner...)
(And then there is this cluster again, this time on the couch...)
Seems to me winter snuggling urges are starting to take hold. I have no problem with that!
With love.
