I Suppose All These People Will Want to Eat, Too

Not to be a whiner or a total curmudgeon — and I do love my extended family all to pieces — but how in the name of all that’s sane am I going to entertain and feed three (3) adults, two (2) dogs, and one (1) baby for nine (9) days — and still do any of my work? You know, work, that stuff that (hopefully) pays a freelancer’s bills?

In this case, we’re rapidly racing up to (Canadian) Thanksgiving — this year it hits the same actual day as Columbus Day in the United States, according to the handy dandy Lee Valley calendar here on my desk, at my elbow. That’s October 9th, this holiday Monday.

And as we all know Thanksgiving is the time for gathering up the loved ones and celebrating another successful harvest…

And I love them all, I do.

But the baby is teething…

And the visiting dogs have never met my own, so God knows how that’s going to work out…

And one of the three adults is a diabetic with very specific dietary requirements and an artificial leg on which to get up-and-down our old steep stairs…

It’s one of the perils of self-employment, and (I suppose) of having a comfy old welcoming and relaxing country home — everyone wants to spend their vacation with us. And sometimes, bless their loving little hearts, my nine-to-fiver pals tend to forget that I’m not necessarily on holiday too, just because I’m here at home…

And did I mention they’ll be here for nine days?

Brace yourself, my friends. No doubt you’ll be hearing more of The Trials and Tribulations of the Holiday Hostess as we approach the arrival of the hungry hoards, and I struggle not to succumb to waves of panic… What, Me Worry? — as Alfred E. Neuman used to say in MAD magazine.

I do this every year.

Okay, so, first on the grocery list — a whopping big turkey. We can get a lot of meals out of turkey and leftovers…