Guess What????

Look!!!!  I'm pregnant!!!!  NOT!!!!  After dodging the virus for nearly three years, it finally caught up with me.  I had my updated COVID booster shot the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  The following day I felt kind of meh.  I still prepped food Wednesday despite feeling a bit off from the booster shot.  Thursday (Thanksgiving) was when I was exposed.  I did not have the vaccine in my system long enough to ward it off.  

The night before Thanksgiving is a notorious for Sonoma County going to the bars as everybody is home.  It's like a huge multi-generational class reunion of sorts.  Both my adult kids, and their spouses, were out mingling at the bars and came in at 2:00 AM.  The virus hitched a ride home with them as well at the end of the night.  

Thanksgiving was a houseful as always.  I would not have it any other way.  My son and his husband brought along a couple of strays for dinner.  My son-in-law also brought in a couple of his friends who were home from out of town for dinner (neither one of the friends wanted to have dinner with their own family - long story).  

The turkey was perfect thanks to a special brine recipe and a smoker that was followed with a low-temperature roast.  Thank you JT for the recipe!  The green bean casserole was also extra good this year for whatever reason.  All of the other traditional sides turned out as well.  The bonus was that my daughter baked a perfect pecan pie, apple pie, and pumpkin pie courtesy of the instruction of her mother-in-law.  My daughter's mother-in-law is a Southern Belle (as in Scarlett from Gone With the Wind) and nobody can bake pies quite like they can.    I don't even really like pumpkin pie and the one my daughter baked was delicious.  

After dinner we sat around the table and laughed, played games, told stories, and poked fun at each other.  Wine was flowing freely.  Nobody wanted to leave. 

The next morning I served breakfast burritos.  Nobody leaves my house hungry.  That's my mission and life purpose. 

Now.....getting back to COVID.  It was Saturday night when my daughter kept saying she was not feeling quite right.  The next day she tested positive for COVID, and it's been like falling dominoes with everybody who was at our house for Thanksgiving since.