A Sadly Fun Day

Note: This posting was written yestereday and I tried to post the item last night butm the INTERNET seemed to be down.

I tried to roll out of bed at 4:30 but did not make it until 5:00 a.m. We had to somehow pull this day off. I cleaned off a space on my sink and Dianne got up and feteched me the turkey. We had brought the ice chest in from the garage and put the thawed bird in the chest with ice—there was no room in the fridge. I washed the bird an Dianne stuffed the bird with onions and celery and we put the beast in the oven.

Next I was chopping even more celery and onion as Dianne toasted bread for stuffing.

We mixed stuffing and put it in the pans Dianne continued to clean the house. We scheduled the dinner for 12:00 p.m. Brooks wonder over round 10:00 and gave us a hand cooking and straightening the house. The goal of the day was to ave a good time visit and spring Mom out of the ‘home’ for a while expose her to some none institutional food and try to make this, one of her last holidays, as pleasant and bearable as possible.

Bridget still has her pneumonia and she was not able to make the dinner. Gabe dropped Anakah off( who also helped tons) and returned home with Bridget. We missed her and Gabe hopes B gets well soon.

Back at the kitchen Dianne putt he sweet potatoes together and Brooks and Anakah began to peel the potatoes. Brooks loves mashes taters and gravy. I was shocked at how well everything seemed to be going. We were going to actually pull off his event. I got motivated and instead of place card with names I decided to print images of the guests and set the images at their places. The project took a little to figure out but the place cards came out great. The project kept me occupied and out of everyone’s hair. Mid morning we got a call from Charles—what a shock! He was going to join us for dinner. What a wonderful surprise.

Dianne, Anakah and Brooks got Mom at 11:30. She came with her walker. Mom sat on her walker and Brooks was able to push her in from the car. Mom seemed genuinely pleased to be at the table. Mark and Jasmine had arrived while Dianne was out gathering mom. Kristie joined us later in the meal. We ended up with a nice turn out.

Mom gave the blessing on the food and we dug in. Everything turned out perfect. We had planned to have a ham but there was not time nor room to cook the ham. So the ham will head back to the freezer to make a Christmas or New Years appearance. Mom began wearing out later in the meal, holding her head in her hands as if to steady her self. She mentioned she was tired and needed to get back to her care center. I could tell the last few minutes were hard on her. We got Brooks to drop her off at the facility. She needed to rest in her bed. It was pretty sad but I think she enjoyed the time she spent with the family. I doubt there well be another opportunity.

Dianne went down for a nap, Charles, Mark and I visited and did dishes. Anakah and Jasmine went out side and drew on the sidewalk and then came back and watched Shrek.

The time was good and well spent, Very little stress considering the players and the logistics. But the event was done, most of the dishes washed and food put away and the carcass thrown away. I enjoyed watching the cousins play.

Happy Thanksgiving