Getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving

We were warned this would happen.  El Nino would be a whopper this year.  But those weather forecasters are never right.  Except this time.  The snow covers our world as we head into the holiday.  What does this mean.  Will people be able to travel.  Will we have power.  When can we get to the grocery store.  Will the plows actually be out this year.

Tuesday.  Icy roads mean that a mediation gets pushed up by two hours since most everyone else has cancelled.  Case settles, I go back to the office for a bit more work.  Go to the gym which is closing early due to the snow.  Drive to Costco at 8:00 pm and buy almost everything I need for my part of the meal.  Costco is mercifully empty - thank  you icy roads.  There are 27 people expected at my house so I want to get things done a bit early so I don't have to rush around on Thanksgiving day.  Cristina puts the groceries away.  And then we put the leaves in the big table and move the kitchen table to the open area foyer next to the dining room (sounds weird but it works great).  Then we watch the movie "Cop Out" which is pretty funny and hit the hay at our typically late hour.

Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving I get up very early and drive back to Seattle.  Work and then it is our last UW law school class.  Their final trial.  They are great and Bill and I will miss them.  It is about 7:00 pm and I pick up Alysha who has both lost her phone and locked her keys in her car.  That's my girl!  She is at her pizza restaurant and so brings out a delicious little treat which we eat in the car on the way home.  Alysh makes a humungous fruit salad, a greek salad, an apple romaine walnut salads, I make couscous.  We set three tables (I've brought a third table which we set up off the foyer in our "piano" room) and turn in at our even typically later hour.

Thursday!  Thanksgiving!  Nala wakes me up at 7:15.  It is snowing big gigantic snow flakes.  Everything is freshly covered yet again with white.  Take Nala outside and start freaking out.  Who can drive up to the plateau.  It is a big giant hill.  Everyone is going to be stuck.  No one is going to come.  I won't get to see my big family and friends.  Everyone is making a dish and they will be stuck at their homes alone with just one dish instead of a feast.  No Ben and EJ running in circles.  No Granma Mary doing hocus pocus.  No Ryan who made all the place cards in L.A.  No Grampa Jim looking like Woody Allen when we play charades.  No Sullivans or Von Jesses or Koehlers or Hills or Smith or Browns.  Oh no oh no oh no!  Rush back inside, wake up groggy Alysha.  Make her call her friend Caroline who we then go pick up from the U-District an hour early.  Amazingly the roads are fine, the snow seems to be mushy.

And now we are here, back on the hill in our cozy house.  It is still the morning.  Our meal is planned for mid afternoon.  The snow is still falling, but not looking quite so bad.  We hear that it is going to turn to rain and even though the forecasters are always wrong, I'm going to try to believe them.