I'm slacking off a bit today. Actually, I'm slacking off a bit on Sunday which will be yesterday when this posts to the blog. I have done the baking, the cooking and the clean up. Just need to pack it all into the car to take with us to my brother's house this year. We made pumpkin pies, dinner rolls from scratch, apple pies (which we made earlier as frozen and took up there already), and I made a Turtle cheesecake for my sister's birthday which is just two days away from Thanksgiving (so we are thankful for her as well).  Anyway, by Monday it will all be over, eaten and cleaned up again. Just the left overs remain and the pot of soup stock.

Thanksgiving hasn't been one of my favourite holidays for awhile. Too much work. Too much family. Too much old history. Too much blame game. Too much food. Too much clean up. I do like not having it at our house any more. I hope this is a tradition that lasts. Even though we made what feels like half the dinner (but actually isn't) we are at least not hosting it this year. There will be a ton of stuff to load into the car when it is done though. Not the pies. I don't really like pumpkin pies and the apple pies... we still have more than half a bushel of apples here to make more. There will be serving dishes and serving things which we sent on ahead. The tablecloth we offered for them to keep. So, maybe not that much coming back after all.

It is nice not having it here. A bit less expected of you when you are a guest versus a host. Write about what you think about Thanksgiving, really. When you aren't writing to impress anyone in particular and you know your family and friends won't read it and think any less or more of you, what does Thanks giving mean to you? I think it strongly depends on how much you take part in the preparations and how many days ahead you start. Do you ever feel a bit annoyed/ jealous of those who just come for the dinner and then go on about how much they ate and how full they are while they pack themselves onto a chair in front of the TV?