Thursday, November 26, 2020

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2008. Mattie received this cute turkey hat from his school counselor. When he placed it on his head, I naturally snapped a photo! I am so glad that I did, as this to me is the quintessential Thanksgiving photo! In all reality it was amazing that Mattie was able to smile and could take his mind off his treatments, surgeries, and the pain. I am not so sure I could have done the same if I were in his shoes. It was the beauty of Mattie, and his spirit comes shinning through his adorable face.  

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• number of people diagnosed with the virus: 12,883,845
• number of people who died from the virus: 263,455

Today was my mom's birthday. Yes a Thanksgiving Day baby! Though we are in lock down and things are challenging with my dad, I wanted to make the day special for my mom. Which meant trying to give her time to sleep and rest. 

I woke up at 5:45am, and started my day. I asked my dad's caregiver NOT to come today. As this is just something else to balance. So I prepped for Thanksgiving Dinner, and then by 8am, I went upstairs and got my dad up, showered, and dressed. Then we went downstairs and he had breakfast and we chatted until my mom came down. 

My mom opened cards and presents and later in the day, I snapped some photos of her outside in the backyard. Their house borders on a golf course, which I happen to love. I enjoy the greenery and chatting with the golfers. It is never boring outside. In any case, my goal today was to make my mom feel special. 

Though we were going no where, I am glad my mom got dressed up. She looked beautiful and was in good spirits. 

The beauty of Thanksgiving day orange. 

We had two family friends over tonight. I have known John and Phyllis a long time. Specifically, I knew John when I was a teenager. This gives you some idea for the length of time I am talking about. John and my dad worked together and outside of work, we all had weekly dinners. So in a way, I grew up with John. Because of COVID, my parents haven't seen John since February. Today was the first time in almost ten months. So in a way it was a very celebratory occasion.

Mind you my parents moved into this house in June. So this is our first Thanksgiving or bigger meal here. I can safely say I HATE this house's oven. It is too small and its temperature is NOT accurate. Thankfully I had allotted more time than necessary to cook the turkey, otherwise, we would have had a raw bird. Despite the temperature issue, the oven is also too small and can only fit one cooking rack in it when roasting a large bird. It made it impossible to cook anything else while the turkey was in the oven. I had to put casserole dishes directly on the floor of the oven, and of course the bottom of items burnt. Needless to say it frustrated me to know end. 

The Thanksgiving/Birthday Feast. I have been slowly prepping one dish at a time this week. I have no idea how anyone can put a large dinner together in just one day. I know I can't, especially when juggling other issues. 

The birthday girl and her apple pie!