November 2020 W.I.S.H. Thread - The Beginning of a New Adventure

[Summer2018]

Thanksgiving has never been my favorite. Alcohol abuse was always a factor whether it was my father before he went to rehab and got sober or my sister who got worse and worse every year. Thanksgiving was the time of year that bad things seemed to happen. My sister was in the hospital recovering from breast cancer surgery one year. My mother passed away from cancer days before it one year. My grandmother passed the following year.

The only positive part of Thanksgiving was that after my brother was married, he hosted it at his house. It was the only holiday that I was guaranteed to see him, and even though my sister's behavior was outrageous, I had real time with my brother. Then one year, his cancer had advanced to the point where he could no longer have people in the house because of his lowered immune system. All communications are over the phone now.

Since then, we celebrate at home. Thanksgiving present is much better than Thanksgiving past. It is the month my DD was born, so November went from a dark and depressing time to the most joyful thanks to her miracle birth. We sleep in, have a special breakfast, and settle in for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. No more need to rush to get dressed up for a family occasion. No need for make-up or hair. We just wear our warm cozy clothes. I got my SIL's amazing apple crumb pie recipe from her, and I bake it every year now. I cook the dinner with all of the trimmings, and after we eat, we snuggle up and watch "A Christmas Story." The next day, we enjoy leftovers and begin decorating for Christmas.

 

[Oneanne]

Thanksgiving has never been my favorite. Alcohol abuse was always a factor whether it was my father before he went to rehab and got sober or my sister who got worse and worse every year. Thanksgiving was the time of year that bad things seemed to happen. My sister was in the hospital recovering from breast cancer surgery one year. My mother passed away from cancer days before it one year. My grandmother passed the following year.

The only positive part of Thanksgiving was that after my brother was married, he hosted it at his house. It was the only holiday that I was guaranteed to see him, and even though my sister's behavior was outrageous, I had real time with my brother. Then one year, his cancer had advanced to the point where he could no longer have people in the house because of his lowered immune system. All communications are over the phone now.

Since then, we celebrate at home. Thanksgiving present is much better than Thanksgiving past. It is the month my DD was born, so November went from a dark and depressing time to the most joyful thanks to her miracle birth. We sleep in, have a special breakfast, and settle in for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. No more need to rush to get dressed up for a family occasion. No need for make-up or hair. We just wear our warm cozy clothes. I got my SIL's amazing apple crumb pie recipe from her, and I bake it every year now. I cook the dinner with all of the trimmings, and after we eat, we snuggle up and watch "A Christmas Story." The next day, we enjoy leftovers and begin decorating for Christmas.

It so good to hear you've made new traditions for your family.

 

[glss1/2fll]

A few years ago I made an entire dinner, packed it up, packed up all the dishes and everything we could possibly need and we drove over the mountain to my in-laws! They were so pleased and so happy they had to do absolutely nothing except run the dishwasher!

 

[Oneanne]

THANKFUL THURSDAY




Today let's practice gratitude by:

* Enjoying the little moments, by sharing a little thing that recently happened that you are thankful for.
* Reflecting on a lesson recently learned.
* Passing kindness to others, by either recalling a time when you recently did this or thinking of a way you can do it in the coming days.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Passing kindness to others, by either recalling a time when you recently did this or thinking of a way you can do it in the coming days.

I'm currently doing a kindness project with the kids I tutor. They have a lot of adults in their lives who are invested in their happiness - their parents, both sets of grandparents, one set of great-grandparents (and me too, of course!) Consequently, they are often doubled (tripled?...) up in the “getting” department.

So we're working on the “giving” part of the holidays by doing some good deeds for other people this season - 25 by Christmas, to be exact. They each have a chart with hearts on it to color and keep track, and so far, they've donated books, made pictures for the librarian, and helped with chores around the house.

 

[MickeyMom76]

I started Thankful Thursdays with my class this year. Part of their at-home learning activities every Thursday is to talk as a family about things they are thankful for.

Yesterday we colored pictures to give to the instructional aides that support our class and we’re handing them out today

 

[piglet1979]

I will come back and answer the question. It is early and my brain can't think of any yet.

I am thankful for teachers this year. They are doing so much and it is so hard on them. Most of my kids teachers are great and working with the kids being home. DS has one that is not communicating with him but we will get there. That class is tough as it is HS and a College credit class (BioMed) and a 4 year class.

 

[Oneanne]

Acts of kindness - when I'm interacting with people I make sure to make eye contact and ask how they are doing... live human interaction is limited to store employees or SB baristas who may be having "less than positive" interactions with others, so I'm hopeful any little thing I can do might help.

Little thing I'm thankful for... Tuesday I cleaned up behind the bookcase and found the cat's stick/string toy with the chunk of fur at the end of the string. Since then they've been taking turns running thru the house with it. They are so proud that they "caught it" and it cracks me up to see the stick being dragged along behind them.

Lesson I've learned... same one I've been working on the past few years - you are enough. In the past couple of weeks I've had to remind myself of this multiple times when I get overwhelmed by work piling up.

 

[sjrec]

Acts of kindness-we’re trying to make donations to so many of the organizations that are out there and need support. Food banks in particular.

Little things I’m thankful for-a walk on a beautiful, sunny day. Crisp fall weather here lately has been such a mood lifter.

Lesson I’ve learned-let go of what I can’t control. Not always easy, but I try!

 

[sjrec]

Oneanne, you probably already know this, but I saw a tip online that orange peels scattered around the bottom of a Christmas tree will discourage cats from fussing with it. Something about the smell?

 

[Oneanne]

Oneanne, you probably already know this, but I saw a tip online that orange peels scattered around the bottom of a Christmas tree will discourage cats from fussing with it. Something about the smell?

Hmmm... I'll have to give this a try. Pippa is the worst, she keeps trying to chew on the branch tips but hasn't batted at any of the balls yet. I'm thinking I'll only be able to put up the plastic balls and not my collection of glass ornaments I've collected over the years.

 

[Oneanne]

FRIDAY FREE FOR ALL

How are you doing?

 

[PollyannaMom]

I like that pic!

And I'm looking forward to today - DS is due to arrive home from college!

He still has two weeks of the semester on line after Thanksgiving, but he's at least here for two whole months.

 

[MickeyMom76]

I’m stressing over thanksgiving. My family is planning to gather as usual for Thanksgiving. Since about May we’ve been to each other’s houses. We were recently together for my nephews second birthday. But since then, I get at least one email a day letting me know if another positive case in the high school my kids attend. My sister, their pediatrician, still thought we’d be ok since my kids wear their masks. But yesterday we got an email that it was in my sons class and extra curricular activity. He wasn’t identified as a “close contact”. But now I’m thinking we shouldn’t go to my parents for Thanksgiving. I know my parents will be disappointed. And I was hoping to get Thanksgiving in and discuss alternate plans for Christmas. But now I’m thinking we’ll miss both. It’s just so sad because being around them is what really lifts my spirits after the long, exhausting and stressful weeks of school. Thanksgiving was the light at the end of the tunnel for me. The thing I’ve been looking forward to since school started. Actually just yesterday morning, I was sharing with another teacher how overwhelmed I’ve been feeling. And she suggested I take a personal day. My response was, it’s okay. Thanksgiving is next week! Ugh! Stupid COVID!

Ok. Rant over. I actually feel a little better already. I know it’s important for us to be safe and we’ll do that. I was just so hopeful for Thanksgiving...

 

[piglet1979]

I’m stressing over thanksgiving. My family is planning to gather as usual for Thanksgiving. Since about May we’ve been to each other’s houses. We were recently together for my nephews second birthday. But since then, I get at least one email a day letting me know if another positive case in the high school my kids attend. My sister, their pediatrician, still thought we’d be ok since my kids wear their masks. But yesterday we got an email that it was in my sons class and extra curricular activity. He wasn’t identified as a “close contact”. But now I’m thinking we shouldn’t go to my parents for Thanksgiving. I know my parents will be disappointed. And I was hoping to get Thanksgiving in and discuss alternate plans for Christmas. But now I’m thinking we’ll miss both. It’s just so sad because being around them is what really lifts my spirits after the long, exhausting and stressful weeks of school. Thanksgiving was the light at the end of the tunnel for me. The thing I’ve been looking forward to since school started. Actually just yesterday morning, I was sharing with another teacher how overwhelmed I’ve been feeling. And she suggested I take a personal day. My response was, it’s okay. Thanksgiving is next week! Ugh! Stupid COVID!

Ok. Rant over. I actually feel a little better already. I know it’s important for us to be safe and we’ll do that. I was just so hopeful for Thanksgiving...

I am so sorry. My mom is feeling the same way. I feel like she has lost hope this year and seems to be somewhat depressed. She loves having all of us together but this year it will not happen and I think that is wearing on her. Teachers have so much right now. I don't know if you are having the same issue as here but we have a major teacher (Sub) shortage. Teachers are giving up their planning period to cover for teachers out. Hang in there it will get better.

 

[piglet1979]

I am stressed. Numbers are high here. My county has a stay at home advisory. Work has now went to being fully remote again (it was only 1 day a week). My co-workers girlfriend works in the ICU with COVID patients. They have 28 beds in the ICU and 26 of them are filled with Covid patients. Schools are all starting to switches to full on line again. Right now area is only full remote for the 2 days of school next week. They will reevaluate that as next weeks goes on. I have been hearing of some hording happing as well. Things just are not good here. I miss my mom and really want to see her. We will do a zoom call with the family on Thanksgiving. We will do one with DH family as well. We will make dinner here and get to DH grandmother but we don't feel comfortable hanging out. She is still going places and we also don't want to give her something just incase we have picked something up.

I see the light at the end of the tunnel of this but it is still far away. I also think it is going to take use awhile to feel fully comfortable again around people.

 

[Summer2018]

It’s hard on all of us. I have two students whose siblings were exposed. The nurse isn’t at all concerned and refers to them as secondary contacts. The fact is that my kids can catch it from their siblings. They could be asymptomatic carriers.

As far as the holidays, I keep telling myself, “A zoom Thanksgiving is better than an ICU Christmas. This is temporary. We are strong and resilient. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We can do this.”

 

[Oneanne]

Stressed here as well. Giving up our Thanksgiving plans was sad but felt right so I am OK with it. For Christmas we were going to gather at my Sister's, not sure if that is going to happen either. I'm thinking we can do "Thanksgiving" and "Christmas" any time we want to, like in the Spring when the vaccines are available and things are looking better... we don't have to wait until next November/December. Our county numbers are all over the place, yesterday they dropped "down" to around 200 new cases but today it is back up to over 800. It'll be a couple weeks before the new guidelines start to reflect in the numbers... assuming they will.

I also keep playing mind games going back and forth about whether or not I've made enough adjustments to self-isolate. I keep coming back to knowing I really wasn't doing anything risky so there wasn't a big adjustment to be made. Then I start the cycle again.

Tomorrow I am going out to the country nursery... they are shop-by-appointment and I made an appointment at opening, so I'm comfortable with that. It is a holiday tradition to get my poinsettias there and I didn't want to give that up, altho this year it will only be a couple little ones due to le kittens.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I keep telling myself, “A zoom Thanksgiving is better than an ICU Christmas.

good line!

 

[sjrec]

The five of us will be together, but my daughter’s family will have self quarantined 10 days before they arrive (we’re at the beach). We are not seeing any other family Thanksgiving or Christmas. We did mask up and go to the grocery store yesterday, but even my husband thought there were too many people. I have to run in and pick up the turkey Tuesday, but that’s it. If we don’t have it, we’ll do without.
Those of you with parents-I feel so sad for you. My sister in law and I often say how hard this would have been if they were still with us. But if we can just hold on until these vaccines are available we can all be together again.
to all!