On Saturday, Ali, Chelce, and I sat down to tweak the Thanksgiving menu, and to make the grocery list. It’s a humdinger this year! We also assigned specific dishes to different people to lighten the load on the professional chefs, Justin and Ali. I got assigned Corn Casserole (my mother’s recipe), Glorified Rice (also my mother’s recipe but I quadruple the number of cherries), and my special stuffing, which has Italian sausage and dried cranberries. It’s delicious!

Due to a lack of pantry and refrigerator space, Ali and I usually do our Thanksgiving shopping on Tuesday or Wednesday. But, because Ali will be unavailable on those days this week, and because I really wanted to jump the gun on Thanksgiving, I asked Richard to clean out the fridge on Saturday as Ali, Chelce, Frank, Mason and I ventured into the frigid (I mean warm and toasty) Florida sunshine.

Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones who were doing their Thanksgiving shopping on Saturday. The store was PACKED! But, it was very festive and we were able to find everything on the list. We even swung by the craft store where I picked up more Christmas wrap and ribbon. I also bought 15 inexpensive frames and some white paint for a project I’d like to finish before Christmas. More on that in the next couple of weeks or so.

When we got home, Chelce and Frank got right to work making Chelce’s Homemade Avgolemono Soup. If you haven’t had it (we’d never even heard of it), I highly recommend you give it a try. It was DELICIOUS!!! Chicken with lemon, fresh, organic veggies, and orzo, which Chelce picked up at the farmer’s market earlier that morning. What a treat!! I wish I could share her precise recipe with you but she hasn’t given it to me (yet). You can find variations of it online.

Richard is always in charge of beverages for holiday gatherings so he was up bright and early on Sunday morning, taking care of wine, soda and other special requests from the crowd who will be gathering here.

Of course, we’ve already started a new grocery list…where we’re writing all the stuff we forgot to add last weekend (sigh).

We are so excited! I LOVE Thanksgiving!! 🙂

THIS WEEK’S MASONISM

Mason was watching a sweet video of a man being reunited with his lost dog after seven years. Mason started getting teary-eyed.

I hugged him, and he sniffed, saying, “The love just makes me cry.”

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