Thankful

Is it too late to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving? I don't think so. Even though Christmas preparations are well underway, my heart is full of thanks for so many things this weekend. The Mister and I took our little grandson Liam to pick up our Thanksgiving turkey at Gozzi's turkey farm in Guilford, CT. Long time readers of this blog will recall the Easter egg dyed colors of the turkeys that the Gozzi family has out in a huge pen in front of their store. Liam got a big kick out of them as you can see from his face. Gozzi's never changes. Inside the storefront is a simple counter and on the wall to the left are old competition ribbons and awards.

We were expecting a litter of Corgi puppies this weekend from Stella and James. You can see them on our Reinwood Corgis site if you like. Princess Stella had other plans. She required an emergency c-section on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for seven beautiful puppies 4 boys, 3 girls. Thankful that emergency c-section went well and mom and pups are doing fine. Thankful for my gallant husband who was more concerned with getting Stella to vet than brushing his hair (we're talking pre-coffee here people...) Thankful for a kind and caring vet who called me Tuesday night to see how Stella was doing and to let me know he would cancel his own eye doctor appointment for the next morning if we needed him. Thankful for having a friend like Mary Elizabeth to share puppy breath (and breakfast!) with. Thanksgiving may have been on Thursday, but my heart is still full today.

Did I mention that I was having everyone over here for Thanksgiving Dinner? Gulp. Somehow with John and Laura's help I managed to get it done. These pies were baked in the wee hours of the morning. While the pumpkin was in the oven, Laura was washing dishes (it had to be about 1:30 AM at this point) and I sat at the table weaving a lattice pie crust and cutting little leaves out of pastry dough. Adrenaline from the day did not wear off quickly that night. Laura was right, I did burn the tops of the apple pie crust but it still tasted pretty good. Her brother tells her that she should be a food critic and combine her love of writing with her dinner commentary. "I only say it to help you perfect your cooking" she likes to tell me with her impish grin. What a pip I raised. Homeschoolers! Sheesh. Let me tell you though, when my head finally hit the pillow I crashed and slept soundly, even though it was only for a couple of hours. Don't you love that feeling when you are extremely tired and you get into your bed all snuggly knowing you've accomplished a ton of work that needed to get done? Even though you are exhausted it is a good kind of tired. Do you know what I mean? Everything was made from scratch. Let's see...what did we have? Turkey and gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, corn pie, stuffing (one without onions for Mary Elizabeth and my Mom) cheese platters, shrimp cocktails (one hot cocktail sauce and one mild for Laura and Mary Elizabeth...hey...I want happy diners here!) baked ziti, filet mignon which John cooked outside on the BBQ, snowflake rolls (OK, I didn't make those, I ordered them from the bakery but somebody made them! LOL) apple ciders, pies and chocolate fudge. Did I forget anything? By Thursday Stella was feeling perky and excited about her babies. She was given many delicious treats and has decided that Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday.


Here is Stella and her new babies on their birthday. All are doing well so far. I will post more photos soon!

May I say one more thing that I am thankful for? I am thankful for you, my dear reader. It means a lot to me that you choose to spend a little of your time visiting here and following this blog. I am grateful for those who follow and collect my artwork. I am grateful for your friendship and lovely comments. My heart is full. So full. Happy Thanksgiving!

For those who have been asking, I will have a bunch of brand new Christmas Corgi ornaments and things for sale all this week. I will keep you posted as they are done!

Now, how many days till Christmas? xo xo CS ^..^