Holiday

Thanksgiving this year was really pulled together at the last minute.  In the past, I have enjoyed cooking a big meal--putting everything together from scratch and hosting lots of people.  I've even enjoyed hosting family pot-luck style Thanksgiving dinners.  As my in-law's have aged and I've taken up rather exhausting full-time work, these past years we've gone out for Thanksgiving, which I've enjoyed as well.  (It's always nice not to have to do the clean-up!)
This year, my mother in-law was recently moved to assisted living in not so great condition, and her husband is feeling down and out and isn't doing so well himself.  Neither of them was much in the mood to eat.  So I wasn't sure what to do.  It seemed easiest just to host whoever was available to come to a simple turkey dinner, so that's what we eventually decided to do.
The morning light was lovely! I just had to get a snap of the table and the way the light filtered in through the windows.

The turkey platter belongs to my mother-in-law, but came to live at my house a long time ago when the turkey's started to be cooked here.  I just love it!

After lunch, the weather turned gray (which I don't mind--it feels so wonderfully November-y to me), and we went off to see my mother-in-law and bring her some homemade cranberry sauce none of us can ever quite get enough of.  This year, I don't know if she will be able to eat it.

It was a quiet, slow day, the way Thanksgiving days so often are.

Then, today, we avoided the slam and crash of shopping deals and meandered around the corner to an Ethiopian restaurant.

I'm on the wind down of the holiday, not having accomplished half the things I had hoped to do, but feeling relaxed and thankful just the same.