Romancing the Turkey

I'm just now getting around to posting our Thanksgiving photos. This is really just the prelim- to our Christmas dinner....both look and feel pretty much the same these days. To us anyway. This year, however, our dinner was actually served on a 'grown-up' table....being that for the past few years I've had the children's set of table and chairs in our dining area. So I must say, it's quite refreshing for me to feel grown-up and mildly sophisticated again. Which brings me around to embracing a new chapter in my life....one where our little ones aren't so little anymore....and my baby/toddler/small ones days have faded into the 'cherished memories' category. Always a little bittersweet but, ya know, I'm looking forward to a new chapter in our lives.

I've also been so remiss....at least in my mind anyway....in that over the past several months (years) I haven't put more of that sparkle and romance into my life. I mean, that's the whole reason I started this silly blog in the first place....to actually force myself into focusing on that very stuff. One thing I've slowly come to realize, though, is that in order to add those beautiful finishing touches in life, there really has to be some sort of infrastructure or under-girding in place first. When that important feature is missing or falling through the cracks....well, things have a way of disintegrating rapidly. I know. I know what I'm talkin' about....I'm speaking as the frantic romantic here. I know it all too well, believe me.

By the way, that's (above) one of our last homegrown turkeys we raised last year. It's only a 38 pounder. The biggest ones were around 45 lbs. When you leave your turkeys until the day before Thanksgiving, you don't ever think about one small detail:  Will this thing actually fit into the oven? Uncooked turkey is not exactly the idea we had for Thanksgiving dinner.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. So I guess that's what we're putting into place now....that foundation or infrastructure. Generally speaking, the construction phase of anything is not all that pretty. Once it's all there, though, the finishing, romantic, sparkling touches I add can really shine. I won't have to be constantly hollering, "Hey, can you move over a few feet so I don't get all that cr#p in the background, please?" I can just point and shoot my camera without struggling, angling, for that perfect shot....the one that misses the junk, or the clutter, or the big hole in the side of the stall, or the shredded blue tarp flapping around, or the make-shift, ramshackle.....ya get the idea.
Aaaahhhh....how I look forward to that day!

In the mean time, though, progress is progress. And I do relish tossing aside the work clothes, throwing on a skirt....feeling a bit more grown-up and elegant again. So I spread out the table cloth (even if it's not starched and ironed...it's polyester anyway!), sent the kiddos to the woods for fir boughs and berries and into a crystal vase those went, lit the candles (long-stemmed in crystal holders...not votives this time, thank you very much), and set out the china.

Voila! Here's to the sparkling, lovely, gracious and genteel, elegant romantic life! 

Oh...and here's to infrastructure! : D