A “more different” start to Thanksgiving week

This is Thanksgiving week, the very first time in which the entire meal preparation falls to me…the very first time it’s just our little family for the holiday.

I was planning to take Monday — this week — by storm. I was planning to finish painting the letters on a handmade Happy Thanksgiving banner, package up another order and head to the post office, then drop off the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Then I was planning to break down the Thanksgiving preparation list into today’s, tomorrow’s, and Wednesday’s tasks, figure out what other ingredients I still need to pick up from the grocery store, and start cooking. Visions of pumpkin pie, orange-cranberry sauce and roasted garlic mashed potatoes were dancing in my head.

Instead, I’m sitting here wrapped in a blanket, coughing and sniffling. The Thanksgiving banner just says “Happy”. Aveline is yelling in an ear-splitting manner while she gleefully beats a wooden spoon on a cooking pot. Maybe I can just toss some ingredients in her pot and hope for the best?