Oh My Ears & Whiskers! The Turkey Cometh

Not even two weeks until Thanksgiving!

Meaning, a relative of one of these guys is on its way to That Old House.

Wild turkey,wandering aimlessly near our house. Silly bugger - it's November. Flee!

Because eventually, all November roads lead to this:

 This is motivating.

Yes, this wakes up my hostessing DNA and gets all those

holy-monkeys-get-your-act-together genes percolating merrily.

Because we won't just have turkeys here on Thanksgiving.

No turkeys in this group!  :-)

We'll have people.  Aged from 22 months to 88 years.

This year, I do not have a long, elaborate, impossible
To-Be-Done-By-Thanksgiving List.

Nope, this year, it's pretty pared down.
In no particular order, here it is:

Polish the old silver.  The easy way.
(You don't know the easy way?  I'll show you.  Tomorrow.)

Clean.
At least enough so as not to frighten the guests.

Plan the menu (yes, because Thanksgiving foods change

so much year to year), send Howard to shop (he likes this, or so he claims),

and then do the cooking, from cranberry sauce to pies.

Get the Thanksgiving china out of the breakfront.
Actually, that will be Annie's job when she gets home.
(I wish I had her home for days beforehand!  She cooks.)


Speaking of the dining room, I better include
"clearing off the table" on my TBDBT List.
Ha ha! Gotcha!
This was October 2010, when we were rejiggering the kitchen, and 
all the kitchen stuff was all over the freakin' house.  Including here:

We still don't have matching dining room chairs, but that's okay.
No one coming has matching bottoms, either.  :-)

I am tempted to add "sew dining room draperies" to my List this year,
as I have had it on my TBDBT List for years, but I am not including it.
After all, don't the windows look nice, all nekkid?

If the draperies get done, that will be a lovely surprise.  For me.
Do elves ever show up at night and sew curtains?  Please tell me Yes.
 

So, pared down, this year's TBDBT List is:

Clean, shop, cook.
(Yep, that covers a lot of ground.)

Change the chandelier lightbulbs, an annual event.

Find all the table linens, platters, wineglasses,
and the cords to the big coffee urns.
(More of a challenge than you might think.)

Fetch guests coming by plane or train.

Plan table centerpieces.
(I pretty much always forget this.)

Bathe the dogs before Turkey Day itself.
(This reminder is hard-won; don't ask.)

Don't poison anyone.
(So far, a perfect record on this one.)

Yup.  That pretty much covers it.
Mostly, just the basics.  And the fun stuff, like cooking.

What's on your T.B.D.B.T. List?
Cass

And thanks to Karen at The Graphics Fairy for the vintage images.
Her website is amazing, and addictive.  Go see!

Catching Up!

It's been more than a month since my last blog post.

I know!!!

Crazy, huh?   So what have you all been up to? 

We had a great Thanksgiving; 15 at table this year, which is probably about half what we usually have, but it made for a peaceful holiday, and a quicker cleanup!  As always, Howard wore his turkey shirt.  And for the first time ever, I forgot to get a picture of him in it.

Oh well.

At least I got this fellow, wandering the edge of a nearby road on the Sunday

before Thanksgiving.  Making his great escape, I guess.

We've had too much of this:

Anne, clearing ice off my van.

In the spirit of the season, Anne tried decking the dog with antlers.

Dylan decided to eat them instead.

But bigger brains prevailed.

Get that off, Mr. Smartypants.

After more than a year, the local birds discovered our window-hung

bird feeder.  They are not quick studies, our local birds.

Especially since the local squirrels discovered it at about the same time.

Our fresh tree, in the sunroom.

It's a winner this year -- and a species we have never heard of!

Canaan Fir.  It's wonderful.  If you can find one, grab it.

Do you like all the storage boxes and the white plastic around it?  Hahaha . . . we run a classy joint.

 This is me, singing at church.

OK.  That's a fib.

But what isn't a fib is that it has taken me all these weeks to get into 

the spirit of the season . . . and it's coming none too soon,

as our annual Christmas Grab Bag party is tomorrow.

Yikes.  I've got lots to do.  See you on the other side of Saturday!

-- Cass