Here I sit the 
day after Thanksgiving, at a kitchen table that still has dirty dishes on it, facing counters still piled with debris. Jim and I will launch a commando raid and get everything cleaned up later on. It would have been nice to get up to a clean kitchen this morning, but our guests stayed and stayed. Isn’t that great? The surest sign of a successful party is that people don’t want to leave. So I’m reminding myself as I sit here of the wonderful time we had last night sitting around this very table (and the one in the dining room, too, which is also still cluttered). How fast special events go by! Which is only another way of saying, how fast life goes by! Everyone left and I looked at Smoggy, our cantankerous cat and said, “Smoggy, Thanksgiving is all over for another year!”
you have to put up with at least once a year. I know that this type of situation is sadly common; otherwise the topic wouldn’t be so popular. There was no Uncle Ralph at our house last night; I hope that if you had someone like that at your gathering that you were able to handle the situation with grace and style.
As usual, with every Thanksgiving dinner I’ve ever hosted, there was a lot of last-minute kerfuffling. My stepbrother-in-law-in-law (so Jim’s stepsister’s husband) gallantly stirred the gravy. My brother-in-law helped set the table. My mother-in-law, as usual, pitched on all fronts. My husband and son were, of course, invaluable as always. I did not come anywhere near my goal of having the mess cleaned up before we sat down to eat, but one must always have an unattained goal for which to strive! Someday, surely, I’ll be able to get the turkey roaster washed and put away before dinner.
Did I get tasks done ahead of time? Not all that well. I kept saying on Wednesday, “We’ll have to work really hard tomorrow!” I did at least delegate some tasks and trim others. So Gideon made the mashed potatoes and a beautiful rhubarb cake. Jim’s other stepsister (not the one whose husband stirred the gravy) made a gorgeous pumpkin cheesecake. My mother-in-law brought sweet-potato casserole. She and a family friend brought fruit salad. I decided that if we had stuffing, which is half bread, we did not need to have rolls as well. And I discovered a container of cranberry chutney in the freezer and just used that—it was delicious and no work. What could be better?
I feel very blessed as I sit here among the ruins of last night. So much love represented by the mess!