Very Thankful Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving last year was surreal. It was hard to really get into the spirit of the season, when you are in the process of burying a love one. I remember going through the motions, but not truly embracing everything I was thankful for. However, this year I can actually say I enjoyed Thanksgiving and I was truly grateful.

This year I took my time preparing. Instead of cleaning the week before Thanksgiving, I started cleaning a month out. I mean I did a thorough cleaning, which means a lot of stuff got thrown away. Why do we hang on to things? I asked myself several times during this process. So when the week of Thanksgiving was upon me, all I had to do was vacuum and do the bathrooms once more.

On Wednesday I actually answered the phone for the receptionist so she could run errands, because I was leaving after lunch and I did. I went home and took a nap. Now brace yourself, I got up cooked some turnips greens and made a Coconut cake with a pineapple filling. Of course when my sister arrived a little after 8 p.m., I had a small project for her. Figure out why my dayum icing was yellow instead of white. Mind you this was my very first cake. Hunny Bunny saved the day as she patiently turned the mixing bowl and had that icing turn a wonderful shade of white and so fluffy and light it just made the cake all the more better. So go Hunny Bunny. Of course she wanted to just eat the icing.

On Thursday at 4:45 a.m. I got up to prepare the homemade yeast rolls and cinnamon rolls. By 5:45 a.m. I had the dough prepared to rise and I left to get a newspaper, got to know where the Black Friday sales are. Caitlyn, my oldest niece, got up after I had rolled out the rolls and she was ready to do the cinnamon rolls. In fact, I had her doing the filling and making the icing and when those suckers were done I left her to the job of making them look pretty as I watched Norbit with Hunny Bunny and took a short nap.

Thanksgiving was good except for the cousin whose fiancée had some problems with her hemorrhoids. Yeah, I said it because she wanted attention and baby, folks gave it to her. I personally was like if you haven’t taken a dump in a week, why are you eating, again? TMI, I know, but family can be so crazy. We finished up dinner and headed to the other cousins house for drinks. For the record, I am a true drinker and I cannot for the life of me drink mixed fruity drinks. So any pictures you see with me and a glass of an orange looking concoction I didn’t drink it, I sipped it twice.

Black Friday sales were not the bomb and haven’t been in two years, but I got some good bargains. Target was where the sales truly were. I tried to get a G Phone from T-Mobile, but the folks there had lost their damn minds trying to charge me $368 for the phone. I have been with them 11 years; you would think they would do better. Next year. Later that afternoon my sister, Hunny Bunny and I went to a book club member’s house for her annual Open House. My niece had a ball playing and just plain enjoying herself. I enjoyed eating and sipping on an Amaretto Sour. Then it was time to go home, but Hunny Bunny was content to stay. Probably should have left her there.

Saturday was cool and we made cookies hoping to recreate what my mom’s cookies tasted like, but not quite there. They were good, but they didn’t taste like my mama’s.

Early Sunday morning, it was time to say goodbye to my sister and the nieces as they made the long trip back to Virginia Beach.

Thanksgiving this year was remarkable. I enjoyed the time with family and I can actually say I am truly blessed and feel it deep in my heart.