Back Around the House II: Readying for Thanksgiving

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day! It just isn’t possible, but it’s true.

Most of the leaves are gone from the trees and swept up in the city’s new vacuum sweeper. Have you seen that machine? Or better yet, have you heard it? It sounds like it could easily swallow our whole house.

It didn’t get many of our leaves though. Bill made it a daily chore to mulch them with the new chipper-vac.

When I accused him of climbing the trees to shake the leaves down more quickly, he cut back to running the machine once a day.

Our front porch has been returned to the wild cats we feed all year round and protect from the cold of winter. During the summer we reclaim the porch. We clean it, paint it, put our good porch cushions, and close the screen door.

But, come November, we put the good cushions back in the basement and drag out the old faded ones that now belong to the cats.

Then we prop the screen back open and suffer the cats’ glares when we cross “their” porch to enter or leave our house.

The Halloween decorations have been put away and some Thanksgiving decorations are peeping out from behind lots of Christmas decorations that are already in place all around the town.

Santa has come to town, mothers are working on Christmas lists, and children are, as usual, working on mothers.

I even have some Christmas gifts for this year tucked away somewhere. With any luck at all I may be able to find and use them this Christmas.

Last weekend I came across a Thanksgiving wreath we bought two years ago, and I even managed to get it put up on the porch.

I also found the Thanksgiving tablecloth I bought last year because it was long enough to cover the table with all the extra boards in it.

Seems a shame to use it for only weekend, but when we take the exta boards out of the table the cloth hangs a little long. On the other hand if we use it just one weekend a year we can use it forever, if I can find it again after I put it away.

The turkey is thawing in the kitchen. The onions and celery are cut up and waiting for the loaves of bread to be torn to make stuffing.

In the morning we’ll get up early to fix Thanksgiving Dinner for all the family and friends who come. There should be between 30 and 40 people here. That’s a blessing because we never have to worry about using up leftover turkey.

Then, after dinner, I’ll take the grandkids and whatever adults choose to tag along for a walk.

We might follow the railroad tracks, or we might walk down to Tecumseh Point, or we could go somewhere we haven’t gone before.

While we walk, the grandkids will talk and I’ll listen. If we sit down along the way, I’ll talk and they’ll listen.

When we get back home we’ll sit back, relax, and remember when…until it’s time for them to go home and for us to nap.

Yes, we are truly blessed! Happy Thanksgiving!

EDITOR’S NOTE: This column was first published in the Greenville Advocate on Nov. 25, 1998.

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By Kathleen Floyd

Kathleen Floyd is a volunteer citizen columnist, who serves The Daily Advocate readers weekly with her column Back Around the House II. She can be reached at [email protected]. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

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