Friendsgiving!

Before heading off to the airport for family Thanksgiving, I thought I'd quickly post about Sunday's Friendsgiving. 

I'll start be just saying I'm grateful for good friends, and friends of friends that I was able to share a lovely afternoon with.

Saturday, I got the place ready for guests...

 

Particularly after watching a couple of the guys move the two table back through the narrow 1940's doorways of my house, I'm not quite sure how I got the tables moved in the first place...

 

Then Sunday was on to cooking!  I actually embraced the pot luck and didn't make anything other than the turkey...

 

That's a turkey in a bag folks.  Makes for easy cooking, no basting.  I'm sure there are people that would say super heating plastic isn't a good idea and might cause cancer...ha, well, you know, that's already been taken care of for some of us.

 

Maura was acting as co host and arrived early to finish off some of her delicious contributions...

 

and Nate was given the pardon-my-following-social-gender-norms 'manly' job of carving the turkey...

 

perhaps making him wear an apron helped neutralize the stereotypical gender thoughts. 

 

I also made gravy from the drippings, no easy task, but made easier by...

 

the Robo Stir!  Thanks Mom for a single use kitchen appliance that actually came in handy.  It definitely saved some effort, though was a little noisy. 

 

Other guests arrived and added to the beautiful spread...

 

sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing (with bacon! and walnuts!), cranberries, rolls, and 2 pies.  We were all quite stuffed.

 

Here's a shot of the group sans Eric who ate then left for band practice with Meghna and the Majority

 

It was a delicious and fun time!

 

Otherwise the past two days have been spent awaiting today and tomorrow when I get to see the fam.  I'm quite excited, though also a little nervous...how will the kids react?  How will 'Tucci react  to seeing me?  No matter, it will be so nice to see and spend time with everyone, even if only for a short time.

 

On the medical front, in order to hopefully prevent my infusion reactions, I'm going to start taking an oral dose of steroid the night before and morning of treatment as well.  Can't say I'm thrilled to be upping the steroid dose, but if it needs to happen, it needs to happen.

 

In closing, and in anticipation of not posting till Friday after I'm back, I'd like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all!  It may be hard to believe, but I'm probably the MOST grateful for so many things in life this year.  This is truly one of my most favorite holidays and I hope everyone can enjoy some rest, good company, and share in my gratitude.