Thanksgiving plans have morphed over the last month.
Initially, Christine planned to travel as we always do on Thanksgiving by driving to Paoli, Pa to spend the holiday at her the Sikorski home.
Then I convinced her to travel a weekend earlier and see each family that she would usually see at once separately … thus reducing density in a home and reducing risk of spreading or contracting a contagion.
Then she cancelled altogether. The infection rates are simply too high.
Our plans now include traveling to Waterville on Thursday, where Kevin and Peggy will be graciously hosting their first-ever Thanksgiving meal. We are especially grateful for the invitation, because when they elected to host Thanksgiving, they were only expecting to host two additional people (Grandma and Grandpa), not 6 (with our extra 4)
In the meantime, Christine has her heart set on some of her Thanksgiving favorites this weekend and Austin (in the middle of a no-electronics for 2 weeks consequence for not handing in schoolwork on time) was eager to help.
The 14-pound bird was cooked in less than 3 hours. The sides were ready only 30-minutes later.
In the meantime, the kids watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving specials on the TV (from DVD recordings).
The meal was delicious, including the stuffing, sweet potatoes, and brussel sprouts … all the sides that she loves on Thanksgiving and probably would have missed had she not elected to have prepared them herself this weekend. For desert, we had an apple pie from Navarino Farms that Christine had picked-up earlier this week and served with ice cream.
I’m not sure if this meal (and eating all the dishes that she looks forward to every November) will help lessen the blow of not being with her family on the Thanksgiving-holiday, but it certainly won’t hurt.
Tomorrow, she makes her chicken wing dip and pepperoni bread.