Holiday Planning

Holiday planning and preparation is so much easier than it was years ago.  My daughter and daughter-in-law settled who would host Thanksgiving and who would host Christmas.  I asked what we could bring but did not get any definite answers.  Our traditional fudge?  Dan said he would make it using the lessons he has learned from The Great British Bakeoff.  My usual sweet potato and cranberry dish? No.  Last year I wrote a reminder to myself that Jim and I were the only ones who really liked it and the leftovers lasted a long time! 

I will try to make a cheese and fruit platter that looks like a turkey.   I bought some asparagus this morning.  Last Saturday we saw a turkey cake at McCaffrey's but I didn't buy it thinking it was too soon to purchase it.  So today we went back, hoping there were more.  And there were loads.  I even got to thank the bakery manager for her efforts.  The cashier, an older man, wondered if we could stop the line, get coffee and dig into it!  

Every year I ask one of the grandchildren to read Psalm 100 before we eat.  Several of the older ones reminisced about how it was their turn over the years.  It was a rite of passage.  The child I asked to do it this year may be reluctant but his older sibling has already made plans to take over if needed.  I felt so good that the tradition was remembered by others besides Grandma.  

Then there is Christmas planning.  For years, planning for work at Family Literacy took effort.  It meant buying lIttle gifts for the children, finding someone to be Santa Claus (I always successfully recruited someone who was African-American), organizing food to be served and a place big enough for parents and children and staff to sit down and eat.  But those days are done and I remember them fondly but with a measure of relief too!

Gift-giving is a joy but also a source of stress.  I want to give just the right gifts but am at a loss for what that can be.  This year I have already purchased gifts for the women in the family.  The men and boys?  I have no idea but I am collecting suggestions.  I will remember to buy chocolate letters from VanderVeens Dutch Store--early enough so that they can be mailed out in time.  One year it was a crisis when I was too late.  The same child who remembered Psalm 100 has asked about the letters in the past.  Another tradition that I want to keep going!   

Everyone will remember when one grandson opened his gift last year and found Jim's puzzle book under his gift that I thought I lost.   My Amazon boxes got mixed up and Jim got his puzzle book after all.

It is a joy that we will travel four miles and not 700 miles to spend the holiday with our family.  Everyone should be there--several hours home from college in D.C.,  several hours from work in Maryland, an hour from Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, and 2 1/2 hours from Wallkill, New York.  Plus two others dear to our family from New York City.  How many of us?  16 I think!  What a blessing!  I am thankful!  ( I was corrected--18--I forgot Jim and myself!)

-----------December 21  All gifts are purchased and have arrived.  All shopping was done online which seems a bit sad to me, but was easy. The chocolate letters have arrived.  I can't do the banket because I still have the end of a cold.  I hope we can go to our family party at the Conway's.  I will probably be over the cold but Jim's is four days after mine and he is really coughing a lot.