Thanksgiving on the Table

 We have been trying to figure it out, and I'm pretty sure the last time we had a Thanksgiving dinner on the dining room table was in 2013. One year we went to Indiana to meet Loretta, we got invited to eat with someone else a few times. The years we were both working at the newspaper we were too tired to do anything ourselves. We went to community dinners a couple of times. Then there was Covid, and trailer prep for the hike, and the hike...

Anyway. Ta-da!

We had pork chops, and they turned out really yummy. Josh was supposed to join us, but he didn't show up. He has no minutes on his phone, so we couldn't call him. I was kicking myself that I hadn't simply said we'd pick him up. O well, he came an hour later. He had fallen asleep and didn't wake up. Then he didn't really want to do anything, so after a while he left. I refuse to get stressed about Josh. I guess he was happy, and he did get fed.

Here was my attempt to have a little fun. There is a veggie one in the link below.

And what about that pie? We managed to discipline ourselves to not eat some for breakfast. But we definitely enjoyed it for dessert. It's up to standard.

Other than the cooking and meal prep, I did not do a thing all day. It was nice and relaxing.

See Thanksgiving 2013

Reality Times Three

How did those bowls of cookie dough turn out, you ask?

Pretty darn good! Finishing these was my project for today. (This is only part of them- to show all the different ones) Now it's back to work on other things.

See Anticipation Times Three

Mailroom Christmas Party 2017

 
Today was the Christmas party at work, and we nailed it! But you already know we are good at that. We lined up three piles of pallets to make a "table," and had pretty plastic tablecloths. Add pizza and lots of finger foods. We all ate till we could truly eat no more!



My contribution to the finger foods was a really easy relish tray. It looked great, but was immensely simpler to create than the penguins made in a previous December.


The gift exchange was fun. We each drew names, and the strangest thing is that it turned out to be four sets. For example, I drew Heather and she drew me, and ditto three other times. Of course we didn't know this had happened until today. The rule this year was the the gifts had to be homemade.

Heather takes some of the strapping bands that come on pallets of inserts and other shipments and weaves baskets. Here's the one she made for me as a gift. And, yes, it's filled with cookies... dark chocolate and craisin. Mmmmmm...



Here's where it gets funny. The day we drew names, I was planning in my head what crafty thing I would make. Then Heather grabbed me and said, "You need to know that books count as homemade, and whoever you get (except Michelle, who already bought the books), wants a set for their gift."

So when I actually got Heather, that was the end of craft planning! All I had to do was wrap up a set of books.

And we finally remembered to take a nice group picture with all the current employees in the Mailroom. We work well together, and "the people" is one of the best things about this job.



In other news: I am getting back to the first of the children's mystery books. I'm really stuck on Chapter 10. I think it should contain certain information, but every time I try to write that, it just feels intrusive. I think I have to let the story happen in the way that feels right, and get this info in later. I'm sure I'll sort it out, but it's being surprisingly stubborn.

We managed to do three runs of actual publications, in addition to the party, so we only have two to do tonight. I don't go in till 11 pm, an hour later than usual. And I get Tuesday after Christmas off, so there will be a nice break after work and sleep.

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Penguins for Paco's Party

 
We are now having a party every month in the mail & press room at work. If nobody has a birthday that month we will make something up. This month it was Paco's birthday. We may have come down a bit, or maybe it's because he's a guy? No decorations. But the food was great. He made chili, and so did one other person, and the rest of us brought appetizers. I didn't even get a picture of the birthday boy! I think he's 39, but people kept adding to the info on the whiteboard, so at last count it said he was going to be 6339!

I wanted to try something I'd seen, and they weren't too hard, and were a big hit. They even got their picture taken.



What was it, you ask? Little penguins, Black Olive Penguins.



The daily paper had to be out the window before we could have the party. Since I wasn't really working (although I did a couple things to help speed up the process) I took a picture of Krista who was doing the job I do, bundling, when I am working.



And... I'll get to do that in just a few more hours.

(haha- this post number is the last four digits of my phone number. If you know me well enough to know what that is, you can be impressed)

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Thanksgiving 2013

 
We really did Turkey Day this year. If you are going to do it, do it big, right?

Yesterday, we had a surprise gift of flowers delivered to our door. They were from Dave & Loren, who joined us for the meal today. I had a basket that seemed to fit the selection. Here's how that turned out.



I also tried my hand at something fun I saw on the internet. Wish I could take credit for thinking it up, but I'm not too proud to copy a good idea.



At the other end of the table... the serious turkey.



The people who joined us are all familiar faces on this blog. Our friend Josh, son Josh, Om, Loren & Dave (from the trail club), and Loretta. It was a pretty good mix of people and there was some lively conversation.



After we ate ourselves into oblivion we went for a short walk in the winter wonderland. I don't remember when we last got this much snow on Thanksgiving. I had to run the snowblower- that was an hour's job I hadn't planned for the schedule, but I got it done before people came! Om helped a lot with the miscellaneous final preparations and the cleanup!



We had two other helpers for cleanup detail too, Cedar and Corkie!



An exceptionally fine holiday!

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