Last year I remember San telling us that the week between Christmas and New Year’s is called “Between the Years.” With Thanksgiving things still out and the Christmas tree up, I’ve decided to call this weekend “Between the Holidays.” Usually I’m a stickler for separating Thanksgiving and Christmas, but this time I’m kind of enjoying the overlap.
Let’s rewind to Thanksgiving Day. When we went to bed Wednesday night, my son was sick and I was in despair over the pumpkin pie. After firming up overnight in the fridge, the pie looked FINE??? Keep in mind it was liquid the night before. Then my son got up and said that while he was a little tired and congested, he had plenty of energy to start the day. Two crises averted!
I spent most of the day cooking- I made rolls, cauliflower stuffing, marinated tofu, and the salad. My son made stuffing (a traditional bread stuffing with Beyond vegan sausage) and mashed potatoes. It was such a fun day, but when I was putting dinner on the table a wave of sadness came over me, and I thought, “It’s over!”
I know- this makes NO SENSE. The whole point of making a Thanksgiving dinner is to eat it, right? But I knew that once we sat down to eat, the meal goes so quickly, and then it would be over. My mind is strange sometimes.
Here’s the dinner!
Everything was so good! The Gardein roast was the least flavorful thing on the table, but at least we all agreed it was not rubber-y (you can see the bar is set pretty low for these roasts- next year I think we’ll make our own.)
My two favorite things were the salad-
and the cauliflower. I got the recipe from Suzanne, and YUM. I’ll make this anytime, not just Thanksgiving. Oh, and the rolls were insanely good. Of course. You can’t go wrong with rolls.
After dinner we went for a walk, and spotted the first Christmas lights of the season!
Then it was home for pie… the moment of truth.
The family’s pumpkin pie was FINE. Actually, they said it was great. Now, my sister made this exact same recipe and she said hers came out really dry, but also tasted great. So if you want a recipe for a pumpkin pie that’s apparently indestructible, here it is.
My pie was delicious, and the best part is, it’s ALL MINE. No one else will eat it (I make it sugar free and with a coconut oil crust) so that means over the course of four days, I eat an entire pie. Heh heh.
After the pie, we watched “Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” while I put the lights and tinsel on the tree. And then the day really was over.
Friday my husband was up before me and turned the tree lights on. When I came out of the bedroom I saw this sight:
I had to go to work, and all day long I was dreaming of my traditional Black Friday post-work piece of pie. But this year it was extra special, because the Dolphins were playing! I got home and settled happily on the couch with my pie and the football game.
Dinner was leftovers (obviously) and then we decorated the tree:
The house is still halfway between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but by the end of the weekend it will be all Christmas! My son is heading back to school. He’ll be back in three weeks, but I’m still sad.
You’d think saying goodbye would get easier, but it never does. This year I’m wondering how many Thanksgivings like this we have left. My son is almost 21, and who knows what will happen in the next decade. He could be married with his own family, or have a job where he doesn’t have time off to come home. No matter how you look at it, things change.
Sigh.
Is Black Friday a thing for you? Did you have the day off? Do any shopping?
Are there lights up in your neighborhood yet? – I’m not even attempting outdoor decorations this weekend. Hopefully next weekend!
21 Responses
It sounds like a wonderful (and delicious!) Thanksgiving and I love your tree. But I do understand that melancholy of knowing a much anticipated event is coming to an end. It can be so hard to be fully in the moment. Then again, maybe knowing that something will be over is what makes it so precious.
Great point- if Thanksgiving just went on and on it wouldn’t be special at all. Maybe the sadness of it ending is a necessary part of it?
Your Thanksgiving meal sounds awesome. Well except the roast. Ha. It’s not good when a good roast means it wasn’t rubbery. 😉
This was not the Thanksgiving I envisioned. Taco is still sick. I am waiting for urgent care to open so I can take him in. He’s feverish and sad and miserable. So we canceled our visit to my MIL although Phil and Paul will probably still go. And I canceled my annual cookie decorating event. I doubt we can reschedule because there are 5 birthdays in a 13 day span in December between one of my friends and 4 of the kids. I’m so bummed but what can you do.
I didn’t really do any Black Friday shopping. I bought some beauty counter face sunscreen since it was 20% off and the shipping was free but that’s it. I feel like the sales start earlier and last a long time so I didn’t feel the pressure to buy anything yesterday. We ordered some of the kids presents last week and then will arrive today but the prices seemed good, even ahead of Black Friday.
Ugh! I’m sad that you had to cancel the cooke decorating!!! Could you maybe still do it but on. smaller scale? I remember when Paul was little I felt like he was sick for EVERY SINGLE HOLIDAY (for some reason I don’t remember that so much with Angie.). Anyway… I hope Taco feels better soon and the rest of you stay healthy.
I think I might try rescheduling the cookie decorating for January when things quiet down. There’s so much going on to shoehorn it into this month. I usually host Thanksgiving weekend on Sunday before all the December stuff kicks off. The number of birthdays in this group is nuts – December 2, 3, 9, 13, 15!!
I’m sorry you’re sad. It’s hard when our birdies fly the nest.
Your tree looks fantastic! And I’m glad everything worked out.
Thanks Nicole! The tree is definitely cheering me up.
We do not do anything for Black Friday (or Cyber Monday)…and I feel like Thanksgiving is just a very, very different holiday in Canada. We get one day off (Thanksgiving Day) and that’s it. And it’s just generally very laid back.
You know I get sad around/after holidays. I just love it so much and want to sink into – and stay – in the “magic.” But I’m trying to just sink into the happy moments and soak them up, and accept the fact that I WILL feel some melancholy and sadness. It’s okay to experience both emotions and it is a net positive in my life (hence getting so excited).
Those pies both look so good, as does the salad. Honestly, it all looks DELICIOUS. You know how to make a Thanksgiving feast <3
Yes, like everything else these days, Thanksgiving is such a huge deal here. I don’t think it used to be like this, but now everything always has to be bigger and better.
Yes, the happiness-sadness of the holidays is a net positive in my life as well. I just have to keep that in mind in the low moments!
The Snoopy countdown!! I feel like that Snoopy ornament is a little bit of a scavenger hunt item for me on your blog.
I did buy some work clothing for myself while it was on sale, but that was the extent of my Black Friday shopping. I will probably buy my Christmas cards and ornaments tomorrow, too, while stores are still running Black Friday sales. So, I’m sort of so-so on Black Friday!
I actually went out today. Not entirely by choice- I had to drop my daughter off somewhere and then wait around to pick her up, so I braved the mall. It was pretty crowded but they were still having Black Friday deals so I got the peppermint hand soaps for our bathrooms. If I do any more shopping this weekend it will be online!
That’s a good looking meal! I think I’ve had the Gardein roast at my parents, and I’m pretty sure they’ve moved on to just making their own by now.
One of my SILs had dinner on Thursday with her inlaws, and they had turducken – a Frankenstein combo of turkey, chicken, and duck that has probably motivated a lot of people to go Vegan. Anyway, when we were talking about it at our big family TG dinner last night, someone got mixed up and started calling it “Tofurkey” and once that happened there was just no going back.
Jenny, the kitty picture is so CAT. My cat does exact same thing: just makes herself comfortable under the tree, no big deal, nothing to see here. LOL
I didn’t work on Black Friday (district is closed) so we took a walk, decorated the house, and watched a Christmas movie. We already have houses in the neighborhood that are FULL ON Christmas , we didn’t do the outside yet. Maybe next weekend?
Your Thanksgiving meal looks amazing!!! I’m definitely always a little sad when Thanksgiving is over but at least there’s Christmas to look forward to…just gotta get through 4 more work weeks which sounds soooooo long haha.
I did buy a few things online this week but most of the purchases were actually before Black Friday since so many stores have sales early.
My parents put up their outdoor lights this weekend and my sister and I helped decorate the trees last night so their house is all ready for the holidays, and I actually decorated my apartment the weekend before since I won’t be around the last weekend of December/first weekend of January so I wanted to have more time to enjoy the tree!
I bought that roast for my MIL and daughter, and last year they both said they really liked it, but this year declared it was ‘fine’. I suspect the only difference was expectations, in that their expectations last year were SO LOW, that it was a surprise treat. This year perhaps they remembered it as being better than it was.
I’m sorry you’re blue about Thanksgiving being over. I know I would feel the same way if my daughter were leaving and I wouldn’t see her for several weeks.
There are a few Christmas lights up, but mostly not yet. If we make it to the grocery store in time, I’m going to buy a wreath for our door. There are boy scouts selling in front of the store today. If not, I’ll find another scout to order from.
I always get sad/melancholy around the holidays, although I look forward to them so much. I think Suzanne is right “they have to end so we appreciate and cherish them”.
It sounds like a very nice Thanksgiving with delicious food and great company 🙂 I can imagine that you think about the time where you won’t all be together again (this is going to be my 9th Christmas that I haven’t been home. It didn’t work out for various reasons but at least I could go home at other times.)
I love that you’re calling this time “between the holidays” now 🙂
I’m so glad the pies were tasty and that your son was up and around for Thanksgiving. Mini was also under the weather, but on Thanksgiving her headache was better. She never had a fever, but the headache had meant that she was in bed most of the days leading up to T-giving. We don’t do anything specific on Black Friday. We attended Irish dancing compatitions for YEARS and YEARS, so Black Friday was never a possibility. Curly and Mini ended up at the mall with me. I had a few things to return and we found some business type clothing for Mini that she needed for presentations, etc. Curly needed to shop for her besties b-day. I had Friday off of babysitting, thank goodness.
Aww, Jenny, you really have some sort of post-event blues! I don’t really get too sad when holidays are over, but I used to be that way. It’s such a struggle and I don’t know the right way to combat it!
We had people with their lights up BEFORE Thanksgiving, haha. But the lights are really coming up now that Thanksgiving has passed and it makes me so happy!
This is the hardest stretch of the semester, for everyone. It’s worse than spring break because at least with spring break, it’s a bit longer til the end of the semester. Thanksgiving, the students come back, jump right in to end of semester stuff, then head out again. And parents who’ve just seen them for Thanksgiving then have to say good bye again for just a few short, really hard weeks. Hang in there!
Oh the food on the table looks so great. And how wonderful the crises were averted. Yeah.
Oh the food on the table looks so great. And how wonderful the crises were averted. Yeah.