Thanksgiving in the Holler

deeinva

Nov 30

A Look at Our Week(s)

The month of November was a busy one here on the holler. I've made my normal weekly trips to my sister's house to help out with Mom, so lots of back and forth travel time. The 2 1/2 hour drive keeps me up to date on my favorite podcasts. I usually arrive back home ready to get our life back on track! With all the constant activity and hustle and bustle I appreciate my days at home with nothing on the calendar just a little bit more these days.

Veterans Day Outing

My guy joined a chorus, The Voices of the Mountains a few months ago. They alternate rehearsing in Kingsport, TN and Bristol, TN. On his rehearsal days I usually ride with him and run errands in the "big cities" while he rehearses. They had their first concert on Veterans Day in Kingsport. Bro and I attended and enjoyed the patriotic tunes. Their Christmas concert is this upcoming weekend. Mom will be here and hopefully she will be able to attend with us.

Visitors Welcome

For our holiday plans this year we decided to go the same route as we did last year. We are staying home on the holler. We've told both of our families that we will be home, food will be plentiful and everyone is invited to come and celebrate with us. For Thanksgiving my sister's family decided to make the trip to have lunch with us. They arrived around 12:30 and we were at the table ready to eat by 1:00. We had turkey, ham, broccoli casserole, deviled eggs, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, pineapple casserole, dressing and rolls. For dessert we had German Chocolate Cake (at my sister's request), pumpkin pie (at my niece's request) and banana pudding (at my nephew's request). I attempted to make homemade rolls again this year but they did not turn out so store bought to the rescue. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed sitting on the deck, playing games and riding the 4-wheeler after lunch. I sent my sister home with lots of leftovers. My oldest niece would be arriving at her house on Friday and had requested her own personal pie and all the leftovers.

I was especially happy to be able to use our china dishes once again. The china is from my guy's grandmother and his sister brought us the collection once we moved into our house. After using the dishes last holiday season I searched eBay and found a set of four dinner plates to add to the collection. They match perfectly! After lunch when I was cleaning up and returning the dishes to the china cabinet my brother-in-law made a comment on using the good china. My guy then explained the story of where the china came from and how old it was (80ish years old). My nephew was quite impressed with this story and kept thanking me for letting them eat off our special plates. He said he would be more careful next time since he now knew how old they were!

What's for Dinner?

There's been way too much eating out around here lately! I did manage to cook a few times other than Thanksgiving. We had my homemade tomato soup from our garden tomatoes with grilled cheeses. The soup was yummy! We also had our bone-in ribeye steaks from our cow purchase with sweet potato fries. The steaks were huge and delicious! We've had leftovers all week this week and last night had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with our leftover ham.

During a recent craft show I had the chance to try freeze dried Skittles. The podcaster that we follow is always talking about these and I was excited to finally try them out. They were quite different from regular Skittles, I thought they were good. My guy was not a fan.

Holiday Outings

Black Friday we spent the day in Asheville, NC. We did a little shopping at the mall and outlet mall. We didn't buy very much but had fun being out and people watching in all the shopping craziness. We also stopped at a couple of breweries in town. One of my guy's favorite beers was released on tap and he was excited to try it out. I didn't feel too great but it was still a great day. My guy even took the time to stop for a quick picture with his favorite holiday character, the Grinch. They are kindred spirits for sure!

Sunday was my day off after several consecutive days of constant activity. I worked a puzzle, binge watched The OC and did a little Christmas decorating. The tree is up and decorated, just waiting for the train to be added. I also decorated our wheel that is propped against a tree as you come up our driveway. I enjoy decorating it for each season. I'm quite happy with how everything came out this year and love seeing it lit up when we come home at night.

Puzzle Progress

Well our first two puzzles of the season were somehow missing one piece so they didn't count! We have now finished two complete puzzles. One was a winter scene from our favorite puzzle designer and the other a fun nostalgic food puzzle. We have two Christmas puzzles ready to be worked before the big day arrives!