Apron Wishes

I don't really cook often and often don't enjoy cooking when I do. However, I had some sort of out of body experience this Thanksgiving that I thought I might share! On Monday dad called to warn that mom was coming down with something. She was in that stage where you know you are just about to feel pretty awful. By Tuesday, she was feeling pretty awful. So I decided that I would cook the dinner this year. It's something I have always thought that I should do or would have to do one day but I have been always been too scared to try plus someone else was always doing it anyway! You know what...it wasn't that hard! It got a little crazy right towards the end when the turkey was ready and all of the sides needed to be in the oven. And...dinner was an hour late! But...it was worth it. Yummy - if I do say so myself!

And I'll fill you in on a little secret...but don't tell anyone. I actually really enjoyed cooking the dinner. I mean, I really enjoyed it. It was fun. The family was all around all day long. The kids were SO great. The girls didn't fight...much. Even Campo didn't fuss and took 2 good naps. I got to pick all of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes made the way I like. We had football on all day and everyone was dressed causally and comfortable. It was just a very relaxing, family day with very little stress.

I did have one unexpected surprise desire throughout the day though. I've often seen other mommy bloggers write about their aprons and their love of aprons. I remember not too long ago when someone was selling aprons and everyone was buying them up. They were beautiful but I just had no desire to have an apron! For some reason very early Thursday morning, I'm talking very early, I was thinking about the dinner and what I needed to get done and when etc., I suddenly wished that I had a beautiful apron to cook Thanksgiving dinner in. And all day I just kept thinking that it was the one thing missing...besides my mom of course! So, maybe one of these days I'll get an apron!

I think the apron wishes and the sense of enjoyment that I had making the meal on Thursday had a lot to do with the sense that I was going through some sort of rite of passage. When the meal was all ready, we made a plate for my mom and took it over to her. I felt this huge sense of anxiety that SHE was trying MY turkey and MY thanksgiving dinner. This woman who had done this magnificent feast for us (and many more people than I cooked for by the way) year after year was going to taste what I had worked so hard on and planned so much for all week. Luckily, I passed the mom test...and the dad test, sister test, husband test and the two kids who eat food besides rolls, chicken nuggets and pizza test.

So I guess, maybe, I am now apron worthy!!

Here's a picture of my dinner! Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the turkey before we carved it. And I don't have a lot of nice things for serving so ignore the tacky set up!