I think it was the first time ever that I started my giving thanks with thanks to the US political system, specifically for federalism. Only because of that, plus our still independent Judicial system, that the Illinois government can still protect their citizen and resist the most outrageous thins that come from federal government. I am immensely proud of our state, our governor and our judges, and thankful to them!
I am thankful that I have a job which is, though intense and plainly hard as no other job I had before, makes it possible for me to earn enough money to do good to many people and support the causes that are important to me.
I am thankful to Boris who emotionally supported me through this tuff year more that ever; I am thankful that we still keep the flame of our love for so many years and do not see it fading:).
Thankful that all my children are the amazing individuals they are.
Thankful for my home, my neighborhood, and my city. I am as much at home here as i ever been in my life.
Wednesday was windy like never; Thursday and Friday was super-cold, and on Saturday, it was snowing, setting the record of the most snowiest day in Chicago in November!
Boris and I ventured to the Loop, because I wanted to go to the Art Institute, and do some holiday shopping. It was still cold, it was still very windy, plus, it was snowing!
I found this sweater in one of the boxes when we were installing new shelves in our storage unit. It was hand knitted for me by my grandaunt when I was eighteen, and I decided to try it on. Since it looked not bad at all, I decided to take it out :). I have received complements about it everywhere on that day!That was by our house at 3:30 PM, and it was not it!
Boris and I took turns cleaning our stairs because it was completely unsafe to use them:
By 6 AM, the snow was mostly over, and the cleaning crew came and cleaned it from everywhere, and then the snow started melting. However, it looks like it’s not it, and there will be more cold and more snow during the upcoming week.
There were things to be thankful for: Anna and John finally sold their “old” house, and Anna got a new job which she starts on Monday. Other family members had probably less impressive news, but still. At least, Boris didn’t have any travel obstacles, and was here (he said there was absolutely no line on the border control; apparently, nobody wants to come visit us anymore!)
The day before Thanksgiving we had a wind out of the ordinary, with gusts over 50 MpH. When I was in a workout session with my trainer, I looked out of the window, and saw something surreal: there was something flying in the sky! My first thought was: what are these birds? But them I realized that these were not birds, but the dry leaves! The wind blew them up from the ground to at least the seventh floor! i tried to take pictures after my training session ended, but the leaves were flying too fast, and I didn’t get any good pictures.
Later, when I went to pick up my pies from Vanille across the street, the wind was almost picking me up! I had to turn by back toward the wind to walk, and as it turned out, I couldn’t save all the pies – the cranberry merengue was partially ruined, because the wind was knocking the boxes, no matter how hard I tried to keep them from bouncing. I asked Boris to meet me at the train station to help me to carry the pies home, and if I won’t ask, I am afraid the consequences would be worse!
We unfolded the tables on Wednesday evening, and in the morning, I started making the salads and preparing everything for the turkey. Anna-and-family-and-friends arrived by 10 AM, and started the turkey, and we finished the rest of the food prep.
Nadia and Kira stayed in the sunroom for most of the time, and we didn’t hear any screams or arguments, so I asked Anna whether this feels suspicious for her. Then, the girls came to distribute the tickets for the puppet show, and in another hour, we all were called to watch it. I was very impressed with what they’ve done! They made the puppets for the shadow theater out of black paper and secured them on black pencils with tape. They put up a screen, and a floor lamp so that they could project, and came up with a Christmas – theme skit. They also made tickets, and numbered the seats.
After they were done, we were allowed to have a backstage tour, and they showed as the puppets, and then, without any prompt from me, Nadia said that they were going to disassemble them, and make pencils to be pencils again 🙂
I never know what to write about Thanksgiving. We made it :). Actually, the cooking time was the least effort I remember. It took me more time cleaning up, doing the dishes, and packing the food to go, but I am done with that, or with most of that. Boris helped me a lot (probably more than ever), and I am also very thankful for that. I am tired, but also, since Boris and I were chatting all the time while I was cooking and he was helping, I got a lot of new Postgres ideas that I want to try 🙂
I know I am hopeless:)
My son-in-law said I have a secret extra day of the week – I wish!!!
One thing we always have for Thanksgiving are pies from Vanille:)
For the second time, I ordered a Thanksgiving turkey from the CSA. I am unsure whether it was a good idea to order a size Large… but there is no way back now 🙂
My fridge on Thursday morningMy fridge after – after having eleven people for Thanksgiving, having Anna’s family Wed- Fri, and giving away four large bags of leftovers?!
We are officially in the holiday season. I am trying to book/purchase/reserve as much as possible in advance and see as many people as possible, especially those I haven’t seen for a long time.
In addition, somehow, several doctor’s appointments, both mine and mom’s, ended up in December, so I need to schedule this as well, and pretty much each and every single day in late November – December is already planned. I do not have Christmas presents for anybody, but I hope to work something out!
So far, here is what we have. Boris flew in on Sunday, and surprisingly, the same BA flight, which was so late for me, landed on time, and Boris even managed to get a cab, which is always a struggle for him:). (I didn’t want to go to the airport because the arrival was late, and I didn’t want to sit in the airport for potentially three hours).
Anna and her family are coming tomorrow. I ordered a turkey from the CSA, and this bird is nothing like anything I had before. I have lots of vegetables from both of my CSAs, and I ordered pies from Vanille. And we have plans with Boris for all the rest of the days until he leaves Sunday night.
After November 27, I have something going on every day. The highlights are my cookie-baking days, which will be December 3,4, 10, and 11. On the 10th, we have a corporate party, so it will be only a half-day cookies. I ordered a Christmas tree with delivery and installation from Gethsemani for December 9th. First time in my life, I ordered both delivery and installation, but if I want a tree as big as I had last year (and I want it!) I’d better not try bringing it up myself.
And now I am taking a deep breath and getting ready for the cooking marathon!
Here is what I have on the eve of Thanksgiving. The training is completed in terms of it is written, but I still have several examples to rework because they bear too much of the company specifics. Also, it needs more proofreading, formatting, etc. And one rehearsing together :). Also, I still have to prepare my big talk on the second day of the conference, And also, there are several important tasks to complete at work, and if they aren’t done today, they will spill into the long weekend.
Other than that 🙂 … Both fridges are full and barely closing:). I took the turkey out of the freezer to defrost on the lower shelf of the fridge, but as of last night, it was still stone-frozen. Moreover, since two boxes of mixed greens were placed close to it, they were utterly ruined by being frozen!
It’s our family tradition, that no matter how hard we try, we need to run to the store at least twice on Thanksgiving morning because something got forgotten. This time, it started even before Thanksgiving: I already made two “forgotten stuff” trips to the Eurofresh store. We’ll see whether there will be more:)
I’ve ordered outrageously expensive but also outrageously good pies from Vanilla Chicago, and they are already in my fridge (yes, apparently, my fridge is elastic :)). We had a Thanksgiving lunch at work yesterday, Anna and her family, and Boris are coming tonight, so it’s all good except for (or because of:)) life is so busy.
Four Vanilla Chicago Pies in my trunkI have an elastic fridge:)
Hettie's Reflections 