I had a five day long weekend for the US Thanksgiving holiday and it was delightful. I can’t deny that my morale and productivity in my home office was at a low point in the days leading up to it. Five days off and now it’s Monday morning and I have the glad feeling that I’m ready to be back at my desk. I have to-do lists to make, emails to read, documents to review, and meetings to schedule, and I’m ready for the push through to the end of the year, where I’ve scheduled even more time off.

Miss L was at her dad’s for the holiday so it was just me and Brandon. We’d originally planned our family holiday celebration for the weekend, and invited Brandon’s cousin and girlfriend over for Wednesday night drinks, but with the three-week “pause” instituted by our governor, in the end, no one really wanted to meet up. This was fine with me as it gave me the ideal sort of holiday for an introvert and just what I needed, really. Hopefully Covid cases go down in upcoming days and if not then at least I’ll have the feeling that I’ve properly isolated to see my family over Christmas.

So Brandon and I were in our own little holiday world. We cooked our turkey and had a candlelight dinner and he made his special family dressing. Unfortunately the only photograph I got was of the pumpkin pie I made. I was very proud of this as I love pumpkin pie and I feel now like the true embodiment of “teach a man to fish” (although my mom’s pie is still the best).

We went for runs and long walks and bought nothing on Black Friday.

I had spectacular afternoon naps with the cats every day, and read and knitted a bit. We drank lots of Malbec and stayed up late watching the latest season of “The Crown” as well as “The Miniaturist” and “Vienna Blood” from PBS (all ‘recommends’). I didn’t worry at all about what I ate or drank but tried to temper it by getting outside daily for fresh air and steps.

I’ve explored some new and fun ways to present turkey leftovers since we had a 14-lb bird and despite our best efforts we did not eat our required 7 lbs each on Thursday. We tried these recipes and all received thumbs-up from Brandon.

Cranberry Turkey Crescent Ring (from Pillsbury)

Pot pie (from Two Peas and their Pod – it’s written for chicken but is great for turkey, too. I’ve made this many times with both chicken and turkey and always a crowd-pleaser.)

Turkey Monte Cristo (from Martha Stewart. We actually got lazy and skipped the French toast step here and just grilled it on the stovetop like a classic grilled cheese, with some good bread, and it turned out absolutely yummy.)

I hope everyone had an equally relaxing weekend and we’re all ready for the push to the end of the year. What’s on tap for this week? We will get our Christmas tree up, and I have to go into the office one day, and I have to meet up at the bank with some of the Girl Scout moms as I’m taking over the role of troop treasurer for this cookie season (whyyyyyyyy do I do this to myself argh). I also have a late work call with Japan one night. I’m still looking forward to being back on a more normal schedule. Oh – and we’re supposed to get SNOW later today and tomorrow!

As Garrison Keillor used to say, be well, do good work, and keep in touch. xo