Thanksgiving Post-Mortem

There's a few things that I will never give up. Never. Including flowers for the table and a pretty table linen. 

Well. I'm sitting back today re-evaluating my revisions to this year's Thanksgiving schedule of events.

The idea was to make things much much easier. And simpler. And less energy-intensive. But I think that I have to continue to reevaluate what simplification really means. When the feast was on the buffet table and we gathered for prayer, my daughter-in-law eyed the spread, and wearing a distinct twinkle in her eye whispered, "Mom. You just DON'T DO casual, do you?"

But. But. But.....We're using paper plates! And there's just a table runner on the formal dining room table instead of a table cloth! We didn't assign seats this year so I didn't make place cards! We're serving the pickles and olives STILL IN THEIR JARS! And there's no Turkey Trophy game! I only baked one pie and bought the other! And! And! And!

She told me she loved me just the way I am. I love that girl.

In spite of my protestations, I do think she may have had a point, since by Thursday afternoon I was done. Kaput. Over. And it's evident that my energy stores are completely depleted since over the past few days it really doesn't take much activity to send me upstairs napping. I haven't felt that weird cold-face sensation preceding a crash for a very long time but it showed up again on Friday.

Ah, well. I had a blast while it lasted.

So. In review. If I were to do this over again I probably should have:

• Skipped muscling my way through the Costco crowds to buy the pie. I may have spent more energy there than it would have to just bake the stinkin' thing.
• I should have probably skipped doing all of the grocery shopping and delegated that to others.
• Scrubbing out the bathrooms could have waited. They weren't too gross. And if I would have handed any of my kids a toilet brush they would have cheerfully gone to work.
• While the two types of home made gravy were absolutely delicious, this probably wasn't the best year to try to do brand new fairly labor intensive recipes. But DANG, they were good and will definitely be included next year.
• Cereal and or eggs should have been perfectly fine for breakfasts during the holiday weekend; instead of the strudel and oven-baked french toast that I made. Which everyone devoured. 
• When my family members said, "MOM. Sit down and let me do that!" I should have listened. 
• Someone else could have walked Lulu even if it felt wonderful to step outside in the crisp cold air. 
• Taking pictures -- well, using my picture taking method -- sucks far too much energy: .::stands up gesticulates wildly::. "Get together everyone! Say CHEESE!" or .::puts silly hat on a nearby pet::. "Oh, Frodo, sit still! Here, let me take a picture of you with your cute little pilgrim hat.....come back!" Even though the resulting pictures would be probably less than ideal, photos taken from wherever I happen to be sitting should have been perfect. 

You get the idea. Hopefully by Christmas I'll be back to my old self, but if not, someone remind me of this post. I'm heading back to bed. Zzzzzzzzz.....