Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  I did a test run of the oven roasting a chicken on Tuesday last week and before I set it in the oven moved the racks (as I would in Berkeley) to accommodate the bird.  I shouldn’t have bothered.  My new giant oven could have fit 6 with ease.  I should have bought a bigger turkey just to take advantage of the space.

And so I made all the traditional feast items.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts with bacon, jello, and, of course, noodles and pie.  Jay’s parents drove in from Pittsburg, PA to join us.  Even though they arrived on Wednesday night after Jay’s mother had had a full day at court, she still made sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie as well as an alternative cranberry sauce to accompany the meal.  I found my pilgrim candleholders and we scattered turkey sparkles courtesy of the Flaths across the table.  We had a fine feast and ran the dishwasher three times.

Now the Hines-Shah family is not one that usually celebrates the day after Thanksgiving by shopping, but the temperature was dropping, and we needed coats.  Laurie Holland, a friend from church who once made the transition from California to Chicago had advised us not to buy coats before getting to the mid-west:  “They don’t have the selection or the heaviness you need here.” So on the day after Thanksgiving we headed downtown to the Watertower Macy’s to buy coats (60% off!)

Needless to say, it was a madhouse.  Grandpa found a bench in the shoe department and just stayed there.  John asked, “Can I have a piece of gum since it’s a holiday, you know mama, Black Friday?”  Jay and I tried on every coat imaginable.  John did his best sales job trying to convince Jay to select a particularly garish plaid coat, “Daddy, look how warm it is.  You would like it.”  Jay resisted, opting for black instead.

We finally immerged with three coats and earmuffs to supplement our hat, mitten, and scarf collection.

The rest of the weekend was mostly spent eating leftovers, watching football games, and setting up Advent and Christmas decorations (no tree yet – we’re waiting for Papa).  Though I sent good beeswax Advent candles with Jay from Berkeley, we can’t find them anywhere.  Blue candles are hard to find, but Whole Foods came through in a pinch.  John’s been watching a lot of football and playing a lot of pretend games is the long hallway.

Our hallway is extremely long. Between the sun room and the kitchen is a vast expanse far enough to require an Internet repeater and an extra phone.  Jay didn’t even hear the commotion when I was setting up Christmas lights and dropped a desk lamp right on my foot.  (RIP desk lamp.)  John loves the space between “goals” or “end zones,” or whatever else his pretend sporting requires.  We set up his Nerf basketball hoop on one of the hallway closet doors and John couldn’t be happier.  Grandpa and Jay got roped into endless hallway games.  Thank goodness we have no downstairs neighbors!

Jay and I did take advantage of willing babysitters and got out for a date night.  We found a tiny Mexican place in Skokie started by one of Anthony Bourdain’s underlings near enough to the movie theater.  The food was good, the service was excellent, and the BYOB policy was a pleasant surprise.  We got to Harry Potter on time, even though Jay had to park some ways away.  Our new coats were put to good use on one of the coldest nights in Chicago since February. 

We are reminded in so many ways how much we have to be thankful for.  Good health, a loving family, a warm house (steam heat!), our church family (both here and in Berkeley), plenty to eat, and, of course, a job for Jay.  And over it all, the faithfulness of God who guides and preserves us through whatever has been and whatever may come.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!