November Comes and November Goes

"November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring."

-  Elizabeth Coatsworth-

Thanksgiving has come and gone. It seems that only yesterday I was donning my wig and witch hat for the Halloween festivities. I'm don't know ready for this. I'm still trying to savor some of the splendor of Autumn. Yes, I know, we've still a month of Autumn before the Winter Solstice, but let's face it, now that Thanksgiving has passed, everything will move at breakneck speed...and in the blink of an eye, Christmas will come and another year will have passed....and where has it all gone?

When we were all young, we used to think that we were never going to grow up. Time seemed to crawl.  When I was young, I couldn't wait to become a teenager...and then I couldn't wait to turn 18.  From there it was that special age of 21...always wanting more; never savoring what I had.   We were all in a hurry, thinking it was better to be grown up than it was being young. What was the matter with us?  Why could we never cherish what we had?

Ours was a quiet Thanksgiving...me, my hubby, and my two sons.  Hubby has an enormous sized family--19 siblings--but we gave up socializing a long time ago.  No one gets along with each other so why put ourselves into the middle of it.   We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, brocolli with cheese sauce, green beans, and cranberry sauce.  And, with hubby being Dominican, of course I had to include gondulas and rice. 

My youngest brought a great cheesecake (which I don't like) and a homemade lime pie from his girlfriend.  She spent her day with her family which is why she didn't come. 

Put up the tree and decorated it yesterday...at least partially.  Usually I race about on Thanksgiving trying to decorate everything and cook, but this year, I took my vacation the week after the holiday, so I've ten more days in front of me.  I'm getting older now, and not as agile as I once was, so this gives me time to take it easy and do a little each day.  Besides, I spent so much time in confusion yesterday, it was a joke.  I've had the same strings of lights for years, and last year when I took them down, I heaved them all out knowing that it was time for them to start burning out....and since I no longer smoke, I have extra money; hence, I bought a couple boxes of lights.  Well, after putting up the star, unraveled the lights, and put them on the tree....then, when I went to plug them into the wall, I discovered I had somehow I had nothing to plugin...I'd somehow connected them all wrong so I had no prong end left.  It took nearly an hour to figure out where I'd gone wrong.  

All in all, it was a wonderful day and I am so grateful to have my loved ones around me.  Even my kitty enjoyed her day.  After 19 years, she knows what the turkey means...turkey liver.  That's become our Thanksgiving tradition.  She hounds me all day until I boil them up and give them to her...usually when we sit down to our meal so we can ALL eat together as a family.  My only bittersweet moment yesterday was thinking, as I watched her eating, that this might very well be her last one, but before the tears began to flow on such a joyous day, I forced myself to brush those thoughts aside and be thankful what I have....for I have so many blessings that, all too often, I forget.  The following quote touched me deeply when I read it for all too often we think of the things we lack and not of the blessings--family, love, cherished pets, Thanksgiving dinner--that we have been given.  Hoping you all had a wonderful day, filled with love, peace, and joy.

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts.
No Americans have been more impoverished than these who,
nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

H.U. Westermayer