Thanksgiving Weekend


Thanksgiving Weekend
By Allan Olson
From my point of view, it was a lazy weekend. I did as little as possible, other than help to keep the dishes cleaned up after all the meals over the weekend.
Our holiday company arrived Wednesday evening, when the pies were just beginning to bake. On Thursday morning, Thanksgiving Day, the cooks in charge (my wife and her mom) started the rest of the meal preparations. This year I did not try to make several pans of rolls and clean the oven twice in one night on Thanksgiving Eve. Lo and behold, the oven rewarded us by functioning perfectly, cooking a delicious turkey along with other fine fixings to go with the day’s feast.
At dinner time, we gorged on a scrumptious ham, a mouth-watering turkey, moist warm pan bread and all the rest of the fixings a person could ask for on Thanksgiving. The only thing missing was Lefse. The meal went very well, with no spills or messes from either the kids or adults.
After a short break, the dishes and the food were cleaned up and put away for leftovers. After another rest, we feasted on cream cheese pumpkin pie, cherry pie, apple pie and blueberry pie. Mmmmm!
That evening, after more resting by all, some of us played a game of Trivial Pursuit, and by the end of it several hours later, we were all helping each other out with the answers – we wanted the game to end. My partner and I won, and my niece certainly answered more questions correctly than I did.
On Friday morning after breakfast I was uncertain what I wanted to do first: read my book, eat some leftovers, shovel snow or take a nap. Since I had gotten up earlier than I wanted to on a day off and I had been reading already, I took the time to shovel some of that much needed snow out of my driveway. I was working up a sweat and getting tired and since I was almost done I decided to take a break and go in for breakfast. I should have had breakfast before I went out, because the kids gobbled up all the instant oatmeal while I was out playing with the shovel. After searching the fridge to figure out Plan B, I made an omelet.
In the meantime, the kids were getting dressed to go outside to play in the fresh powder. I assisted the younger ones in finding all of their outside gear, and found some stuff for a nephew to wear since he forgot his at home.
After the kids were done outside, I had to rescue Alivia’s hat from Bob (the dog) who stole it and ran off into the woods. Then I returned to my book and wound up taking a nap before the head cooks returned from a trip to town.
That evening we tried playing Monopoly with six kids and two adults. Things went really well, all things considered, although we did have to borrow money from another game to bankroll everyone and keep the bank in business. We played for nearly an hour before we had to give it up due to the pure chaos resulting from having so many kids playing the game.
That evening we grazed on pie and other goodies around the house before eventually retiring for the evening, somewhat earlier than the previous night.
On Saturday afternoon the remainder of our company left, and the majority of the day was spent napping, reading and relaxing.
On Sunday morning my wife and I started working on the kids’ room and catching up on laundry. The rooms needed to be completely cleaned up in order to get vacuumed, and the books that were overflowing the bookshelves needed be organized. After the normal amount of arguing and fighting, the kids finally got their rooms cleaned and floors vacuumed and the book shelf straightened. And since I still haven’t returned the majority of their toys, it didn’t take nearly as long as it usually does. Go figure.
That afternoon we had a nice visit from my cousin and his family who dropped by, and after a photo session and some conversation, they were back on the road, headed for home.
The whole weekend was jam-packed full of fun, with lots of food for everyone. This will likely be the last large affair at our house until New Year’s weekend – then it will be more food and fun for everyone.
As always, watch out for school buses on the roads. Remember, they are carrying a precious cargo – our children. Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe weekend.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Hunting Season to Remember

Image
A Hunting Season to Remember By Allan Olson The orange clad army headed into the woods this past weekend in search of the mighty white tail to attempt to fill the freezer with some tasty venison and I was no exception to this party. I too was clad in orange and out on the mighty hunt. Every year there are new stories to tell, old ones to bring up and memories made, some deer seasons for me, after over 20 years of hunting have faded into the background, one year blurring with another, not remembering which year I shot what deer or if I shot a deer. Of course there are a few years  stand out more than others and some are just a blur altogether. However, I find it hard to believe that anything will top this year’s remarkable deer season. This year, I had the honor of bringing Nikolai with me. Not just to sit in the stand, but to actually hunt, he was going to have the ability of harvesting a deer also. Recently he completed his gun safety certification and he wa...
Read more
Image
Thank you for being our friend Frey Olson May 19, 2018 - April 26, 2024 By Allan Olson 4.26.24 Thank you for being our friend, thank you for making us your forever home, if we could’ve saved you, we would’ve. Losing our four legged friends is never easy, in our house they aren’t “just a pet” they are our family. Frey, our nearly six year old English Mastiff came into our lives in August of 2018 and crossed over the rainbow bridge to be with others before him on April 26, 2024. Frey was our gentle giant, he was our protector, our laughter and most importantly I think it’s more than safe to say, he was Alivia’s best friend. Have you ever seen a teenager and a Mastiff sharing a twin size bed - or perhaps more aptly put the teenager getting what’s left of the bed when he’s in it. Or perhaps a giant of a dog, staring at her from the doorway of the bedroom saying, “it’s bedtime,” while she’s playing a game or watching something.  He was taught to react to “who’s here” or the alert of the...
Read more

Thankful for Family

Thankful For Family By Allan Olson published 11-24-10 Cass Lake Times Eat until I can’t eat anymore is the plan for me this Thursday. This is likely the case for many others as well. The food that will be prepared is just one of many things to be thankful for this week. I can honestly say I’m thankful for a lot of things in my life. I’m especially thankful for my beautiful little family. Do I always feel overwhelmed with joy while dealing with the everyday tasks of working and raising four children? I would be lying if I said yes. My children are great kids. They are great at making me smile with their questions and antics. However, they are also great at driving me up a wall. Asking them to help clean a room sometimes and it’s like you put them in a torture chamber by daring to ask for a little help cleaning up the mess they made. Other times they are willing, eager partners ready to help with whatever task you need them to. Of course, there are also those times when ...
Read more