Thanksgiving

well it s now long past Thanksgiving. Butan update. Last year, and prior to that, I have been frenetic the day of running around cooking .lunch, dinner, setting the table. I ahve became the cooking matriarch of this unusal bunch of family that joins together just a few times a year. The cast:
Aunt M: coming in at the oldest 96, I think, and still living alone (She goes to church everyday, never married or had kids...makes ya wonder). Sharp as a tac, but wobbly and hearing impaired.
E and E: married: some cousin twice removed or something, ages approx 82 and 72. He just had a knee replaced and took a tumble down the front porch after dinner, seemed fine.
My Mom: nearly 81. Spry, but memory challanged.
The General: Pop's Dad. The guy who takes being called The General a compliment, and he is not in the military- age 70.
Cousin L: also twice removed or something. Age 60. Fun to be with.
Cousin C: aged 67 or so. Her Mom married somebodies Dad or brother somewhere along the way.
Uncle J: Pops brother, coming in as the youngest adult at 37. Never married, pathologically shy.
My kids ages 5 and newly, 8.
Me and Pops.
Some of them have kids, but do not see them at holidays, if at all. Others never married. It really is a bit like a sit com.
So this is why a the age of 43 I have become the holiday matriarch. I am the only female with house large enough etc etc. APops house is huge as all get out. for some unknown reason. But it is better to have the kids here and to be in a decorated house and cook with my own stuff.
so this year I was smarter and i did lots the night before. said no more to cooking lunch AND dinner. Put out appetizers to snack on all day that didn't require cooking. And frankly, this crowd are not fancy eaters. So dinner was not wacky fancy. we ate: brined turkey, real mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, stuffing with cranberreis and walnuts, fresh and canned cranberry sauce. Ki made pumpkin pie with Pops and AJ and made and apple crisp. Others brought drinks, bread and salad. It was a good meal and I didn't feel psycho!
So