A Dulin Thanksgiving

Wednesday, 11.25.09: Utilize male teenager to clean house. Bake 48 blueberry muffins. Prepare green bean bake, mashed potatoes, cornbread and cranberry stuffing, regular Stove Top stuffing, rolls, and cranberry sauce. Set the table. Utilize female teenager to be sous chef and dish washing point person. Clean house some more!

Thursday, 11.26.09:
5:15 am - Wake-up, gather family and head to Raleigh Rescue Mission.

6:00 am - Serve 50 residents 3 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, 48 blueberry muffins, 4 gallons of milk, 3 gallons of OJ, massive bags of cereal, 60 bagels (plain, everything, cinnamon raisin), and 4 packs of cream cheese. Teenagers were sleepy but had generally good attitudes. Also assisted "Chef" with preparing some of the Thanksgiving dinner expected to feed 800 people across the city of Raleigh!!

9:00 am - Return home with leftover Krispy Kreme donuts and bagels! Male teen resumes sleeping. Final prepping for various dishes.

10:00 am - Put 13 lbs. turkey in the oven. Get snacks ready. Take a quick 20 minutes to lay down and recover rest time.

11:00 am - Get dressed. Get pretty. Smell nice.

12:00 - Danny's parents arrive.

2:00 pm - Sit down for Thanksgiving dinner. Terrific turkey, AMAZING cornbread and cranberry dressing (chestnuts totally worth it!!), warm and loving conversation and fellowship.

This was Danny's parents' first visit with us and it was very meaningful for all. I was glad to host them especially since they have 4 other children they could have spent Thanksgiving with and chose to spend it with us. Danny's mom is battling lung cancer (going on 1.5 years now) and no one takes for granted the time we all spend together.

As I spent my first Thanksgiving without both my parents, I will admit it was difficult. I have found my heart grieving a lot despite the many distractions. I have found myself in tears in an odd place of feeling the loss and desire to be near something that could make me closer to them. But grief and heartache are just that and no grave site, or urn, or house will make me closer to two people I will not see in this lifetime again. I struggle with the joy and blessing of my Dulin life and the sadness of the loss of my Snead life. I think there still remains a little girl in me that simply cries out: "I miss my Mommy! I miss my Daddy!"

But what hurts you is also what should make you be grateful for what brings you joy. Cliche but true. I have a tremendous amount to be thankful for. Hope your Thanksgiving was special.

Chestnuts

I will be making a cornbread and cranberry dressing for Thanksgiving dinner. Its a delicious Williams-Sonoma recipe with chestnuts.

Last year I bought fresh ones and roasted them. MMMM, they totally remind me of my mom. She loved to boil them. If you've never had them, they have a consistency of a cooked potato (a little harder) and they are mild and sweet.

Anyway, my recipe calls for a jar of French chestnuts. Huh? Well, okay. So I headed to the hoity toity Harris Teeter. So I ask the lady at the customer service desk. She kindly brought be over to the canned WATER chestnuts.

Ah, nice. No, we are not making chicken chow mein, sista.

Well, turns out they didn't have the ones in a jar because they were "seasonal" and don't stock them until closer to Christmas. Huh? Isn't Thanksgiving pretty seasonal? So the guy helping me says I should just use fresh ones. Then I say, but it says "French" chestnuts. Does that make a difference? He says, no because all chestnuts are of French origin. Oh, okay. So I head over to the produce isle to get the fresh chestnuts. They have Italian chestnuts. Are you kidding?

Is That Yo-Yo Ma playing?