Thanksgiving Day 2020 is one for the record books. It is just Jim and I today. We will be grilling steaks for dinner for our non-traditional Thanksgiving feast. He isn’t a big fan of turkey and dressing and I won’t eat dressing so decided to do something non-traditional.
We took a 2 1/2 mile hike this afternoon. It is a beautiful day on the prairie with temperatures in the upper 50’s and light wind. It was good to get outside and stretch my legs and get some fresh air. There is a cold front coming in and the temperatures will not be this high again for a bit.
I baked Jim a pecan pie this morning. I needed the smell in the air to remind me it is Thanksgiving. I sure miss the hustle of feeding 24 plus people today but have to say I don’t miss doing the dishes from the prep work or the meal.
I’m still working on my Christmas cards. I am over halfway done, I think. I keep thinking of additional people that I want to add to my list. Jim will send his cards out later. He usually doesn’t get them out until early January.
We are doing a Zoom call with Jim’s sons this afternoon. That will be a fun hour or so. I haven’t talked to my kids yet today. I’m not sure what some of them had planned for today. We might try to do a Zoom later this weekend.
I could not fall asleep last night. I finally got up around 4:30 and took another hot bath. That worked and I fell asleep around 5:15. I slept until 9:30 so got a good four hours plus of sleep. I’m a bit tired this afternoon but will stay up so I can hopefully sleep better tonight. I sure wish I could solve my sleep issue. For the most part it has improved but I still have nights where three or four hours is all the sleep I can find.
No plans for the rest of the weekend. I am in the mood to bake but really don’t have anything to bake. It is a bit early to start my Christmas baking. Jim has a whole pie to eat so he doesn’t need anything else right now. I may bake some cookies and freeze them. Not sure why I am wanting to bake as I don’t eat that stuff myself. Maybe it is a way of distracting myself from cleaning the house. I would much rather bake than clean.
I got on the hot line last night for the first time in five weeks. I took four calls. I did OK I think. Two of the calls were suicidal people that found a way to get calmer or go get help. The hot line has been so busy I have felt guilty not taking calls. It felt like it was time for me to try it again. I’m glad it went well and I will take more calls tonight if I’m not too tired. I don’t want to push myself too far and too fast after being off the line for five weeks.
Jim wants a tree up so I will probably get that done tomorrow. If I am going to the trouble of putting a tree up I might as well get it up so we can enjoy it for a while. If I had my way, we wouldn’t put one up. I doubt that we will have anyone over for Christmas this year. I have a feeling the virus case count is going to explode in a week or so from all the people that traveled and gathered over Thanksgiving. I hope I am wrong and the counts will start to drop and we will be able to gather for Christmas but not going to count on it.
Today I need to take a minute and express gratitude for all my friends and family. This year has been a challenging one and the one thing I have been able to anchor into is the love and support of my friends and family. We can’t be face-to-face right now but I feel your love and send mine back to you. When this chaos is settled and we can gather again we will have to have a huge celebration of friendship and love. Sending everyone a huge hug and much love.
Grateful for this day of Thanksgiving, grateful for a beautiful day to take a hike, and grateful for friends and family.