I am full! Not so full that I can't walk but enough so that I could not eat the slice of pumpkin pie sent home with me from Judy's feast. She made the pie from scratch, including her own crust! Wow!
Justin and I attended worship last night at Victory. What a lovely service it was! We sat with Erica and her friend, Zach, and enjoyed the pie 'n ice cream social afterward. Justin pitched in to help Rachel put up tables for the bell choir in preparation for Sunday worship.
On the ride home, we stopped at Publix at Town Center Mall to get more Diet Coke (such a good price!) and few more items. We both noticed the smell of exhaust in the car when operating the A/C or heat. This is new since my oil change Tuesday so I have to take the car back to have them check it over. It seems the smell stayed on me, in my hair or something. Not good! What did they do???
This morning I got up far too early and even tried to go back to sleep, to no avail. Church was at 10:00 am and at 9:00 Justin came tapping at the door, wondering if I was watching the parade or "The Godfather". I told him I was still watching the news but had better get moving. He opted to stay home today to watch the parade, having worshiped the night before.
GS had a good number of folks attending, and those not there missed a nice service. It tracked through the church year in readings and hymns to help us give thanks for what we enjoy today---salvation. (Last year I made a full turkey dinner, served around 2:00 pm, and still was able to attend worship...I'm just saying...) To me, the holidays are incomplete without the worship.
Got to see the pastor's daughter home from Luther Prep, a newly licensed driver! Anna is only three months younger than Timmy would be so this gives me pause...Glad to have missed out on having him be a licensed driver! At Victory Wednesday night, Amanda reminded me that her son, DJ, will be 17 next month, born a month before Timmy. He does not have a license as the insurance is far too expensive!
Justin and I went to The Club to have our ThanksLiving feast at noon. We went early to allow for him to be hungry enough to eat again later at his father's house. I was going to Judy's after the first feast, so we both paced ourselves nicely at our first feast!
Justin enjoyed the variety, and I enjoyed the basics at the buffet. He had lobster bisque (that always makes me think "Seinfeld"!), shrimp, smoked salmon, and other less traditional food items for ThanksLiving.
I had the sirloin, a slice of deep fried turkey, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, a fresh-baked roll, and a cup of Waldorf salad. Oh, that was delicious! Our waiter was Julius, from the cabana, which was very nice. He made sure my soda glass was kept full at all times! For dessert I had a champagne glass with creme brule while Justin had pumpkin pie and a fruit with cream delight.
The best part was seeing people I knew and greeting them. Many I will see next week again as we resume our Friday morning Breakfast Club. They were waiting for a signal from me, and I gave it to them. And then I am leaving so I hope they gang keeps meeting once I am gone.
When I got to Judy's, I grabbed a 12 pack of Diet Coke from the back of my car as my dish to share. She was still hard at it in the kitchen, with the two Mike's in the living room watching football. David, Judy's grandson, was in the family room on Skype with his parents. I am so glad he was getting a nice feast for the holiday, as he is a law student at UF and away from home. But not THAT far from Grandma's!
Judy began to carve the bird and realized that it was not quite done baking. The meat was pink even though the thermometer showed it was done. Back into the oven it went to finish baking.
She made mashed potatoes, stuffing in the bird, green beans with mushrooms, corn, rolls, and served canned cranberry sauce. Perfection! I went bonkers with the potatoes and corn. She said, "It's just frozen corn..." but it hit the spot for me. There was also home-made pumpkin pie but both Mike S. and I took ours to go. Too full to eat it!
Together we watched The Five, which was so great to do, and then I headed for home. They were going to her daughter's house yet that night and I was ready to watch some of the "Godfather" on AMC. It is my holiday tradition, and you don't mess with the family---EVER!!! Like David mentioned before I left, everything you need to know in life, you can learn from the Godfather movies. Simple things like how to make good spaghetti sauce, to leave the gun but take the cannoli's, to say the days of the week, and never, ever say anything against family, ever! Very funny!
