GOBBLE GOBBLE

We had our Friendsgiving dinner last night and it was lovely. I think it was less chaotic due to the fact that we were only 20 people. We were missing 9 from our usual crowd, and it just made it nice and calm and really easy to talk to everyone throughout the course of the evening. Anders cooked one turkey on Friday and 2 turkeys plus 2 turkey breasts yesterday but I think if we manage to keep it around 20 people next year, we could actually get down to just the 2+2 and skip that 3rd or (eek) 4th turkey that we usually need. I took the amount of potatoes down drastically as well, but it’s still the thing we have the most leftovers of, and that’s with sending home 4 lunchboxes with the kids! So, just for posterity, here was the lineup and the menu:

Anders & Liz: turkeys, stuffing (in the turkeys), mashed potatoes, gravy, and vegetarian gravy for Theo
Martin & Theo: sodas and non-alcoholic beer
Karin & Essie, Cabbe, Ebba: sodas, lingonberries (in lieu of cranberry sauce)
Angie & Kristian: green bean casserole
Debbie & Ola: sweet potato casserole with and without pecans, Spanish black olives
Barbara & Paul, Kathryn, Eva, Nicky: dressing (outside the turkeys), lemon cookies
Lisel & Martin: pumpkin pies, whipped cream
Camilla: raspberry/blueberry crumbles, vanilla ice cream

I picked up Martin, Karin, Theo, and Essie at 3:30 at the Gårdstånga bus stop and we had a little hangout time before Karin had to go get Cabbe and Ebba at 5, because I had gotten everything else done as far as cleaning and preparation beforehand, and Anders had the kitchen under control. Karin was in charge of lighting candles and Martin was in charge of taking coats when the guests arrived at 6 pm, but before that there wasn’t much that needed to be done. At one point, we were sitting in the living room and Essie who has never experienced Thanksgiving was asking if we had to say what we were grateful for.

Liz: “well, I was considering putting together a game where everyone had to write down what they were most grateful for and then everyone would have to guess who each one belonged to, but then I thought it would be too easy. For example, mine is being grateful that my hair is growing back.”
Essie *nodding*: “that makes sense. And, Anders, what are you grateful for?”
Anders: “that Liz’s hair is growing back”
*cue laughter all around the room*
Liz: *gives Anders the hairy eyeball*
Anders: “too soon?”

I was at the hairdresser on Friday afternoon, and had been dithering for about 2 weeks about what to do in regards to coloring my hair. My skin doctor had said that coloring my hair was fine, but that I shouldn’t bleach it because it stresses hair too much. I never bleach my hair anyway, so that wasn’t an issue, but because my roots were showing so much, as the rest of my hair was cut off and grown out, all the new hair is coming in SILVER. Not even gray! And I was kind of thinking that it was a good opportunity to just let it grow out. But when I got to Albertina’s and was sitting in the chair discussing it, and I said I didn’t know if I should color it or not, she exclaimed, “OF COURSE YOU SHOULD COLOR IT”, which made me laugh. So I did. And I’m mighty pleased with the result. Last night everyone kept telling me how good it looks and how nice and how soft it is (hahaha), but I don’t like having short hair, I don’t want it, and I can’t WAIT for it to actually grow out, back to my normal length, even though I know it will take forever and I’ll keep having to get it cut and shaped as it grows so it doesn’t look ridiculous. I have another appointment right before we go to the States for Christmas to get it colored again, just touched up, and trimmed. Not sure how I’ll handle it in the in-between stages, but I have retired the turbans, at least!

It’s about 2:18 pm on a sunny cold winter Sunday. There is still a lot of snow on the ground from Thursday’s all-day snowstorm but it’s starting to look patchy, and the ice on the roads is mostly gone. I have to bake cookies today for the AIC cookie exchange, but really want a nap. Anders already had one, and when he’s done with his late lunch, he’s taking back the rental tables and chairs. I had a turkey sandwich and black olives for lunch: delicious!

Busy week ahead both with work and other stuff. Have to go get blood drawn early tomorrow morning and have a therapist appointment in the early-ish afternoon. Tuesday is the AIC board and general meeting with the cookie exchange, and Wednesday is our annual wreathmaking workshop. 🙂 Fun stuff to look forward to.

Below, Angie’s blurry phone pics from last night since, of course, I didn’t think to take any!

Kristian and Ola hamming it up

The kids playing Yahtzee: Essie, Ebba, Cabbe, Karin, Martin, Theo

Angie and Camilla

Barbara, Debbie, and me

Mood: happy
Music: Boom! Bap! Pow!—Suit