Pre-Thanksgiving Jitters

I hope you're all taking a little time for yourself during a busy pre-holiday week. Not much sewing going on lately. I get Thanksgiving jitters around this time every year just thinking about everything I have to do - shopping, baking, cooking, cleaning - to make sure everything turns out great. It always does so I don't know what I worry about. The food is always superb and the company behaves well. If the house and table isn't perfect, Ehh. 

For the last few years I've gotten a lot better at saying "Oh well" if a curve ball gets thrown at me. Except for the time a couple of years ago when I let the dog out right after Thanksgiving dinner without checking to see if the gate to the backyard was closed after dark. It wasn't. She spotted a skunk in the far corner, then chased after it like her life and the lives of her family depended on it. We both got skunked as I ran after her and tried to scoop her away. I had to leave the party to run upstairs and take a shower with Dawn dish soap. I left my husband with the de-skunking of the dog part. 

Yeah, I can laugh about it now . . . . I even bought a tiny skunk ornament for the tree that Christmas so we'd remember.  So you can see why I still get a bit stressed.

 Anyway, I always make sure I take some silent time for gratitude during this week as I prepare, to keep the calm feelings going forward. And, if it gets to be too much on the actual day (have you watched The Bear, LOL??) I steal myself away from the crowd and retreat upstairs for 15 minutes while I leave the post-dinner cleanup to others. Shh, don't tell anyone. So far no one's noticed and I'd hate to have to give that up . . . .