Blessings & Precious Moments!

BLESSINGS & PRECIOUS MOMENTS!

#1:A hubby who works hard to care for us. (He is in the black chef's coat withthe sexy hair net on! Woo-Hoo!)#2: Two handsome sons who love one another.


Its hard to believe all that preparation and planning has come to an end! My last "customer" left about half hour ago. It is 1 a.m. now! We ate around 3 pm and everything was delicious and presented well. I was so proud of Agustin & myself. We have never cooked an entire Thanksgiving Day meal before. Having said that---I see why Pat commented earlier that she wouldn't dream of standing at the stove frying anything on Thanksgiving Day. My sister also left a comment saying she would be a "bundle" of nerves if she tried bundling beans on a day like today. They both are veterans you see! I was an overzealous perfectionist who wanted to wow my guests!!! I will never have so many things on my menu again unless its a Potluck! I didn't get the Onion Tartlets done, but plan on doing them soon since they sound so good to me and I have all the ingredients. Please don't be disappointed in me when I tell you, I didn't get the green bean salad or the green bean bundles done either. Not a good thing, as there was NOTHING green on our buffet! But there were brown things, and white things, and orange things, and yellow things and pinkish things. I think we did ok! But I learned from experience. Remember, I can order a mean pizza, but I rarely cook big meals, even though I tested out as Paula Deen. I do have a goal to do better in this area. I cook, but its mundane and not exciting, but for the past few months I have been changing. I guess because I have been watching Food network more.

I had a precious moment here tonight'; well several of them really, but one I savor above all the others. Please allow me to share! Everyone had left except for my Josh. My brother took Shane home with him for the night. They left around 10:30 p.m. Josh Daniel and Paloma also left at that time. My Josh was conked out on the sofa in the family room. Agustin was watching a Mexican soccer match. I was still cleaning up! I had done little bits all day. Paloma had helped but when I would have to stop and rest a while I would make her do the same. We watched a funny movie and I received some beloved phone calls during this time. One was from my sis in Venezuela and then my niece Jackie Jo from Paraguay. Another blessing during the night was a phone call from my husband's baby sister in Mexico. Even though they don't celebrate Thanksgiving there, they knew we were planning a big shin-dig here and just wanted to know how it went. I also spoke to my mom on the phone at some point during the evening. She has been suffering from a bad back and wasn't able to come over today for the meal. She sounded well on the phone though and seemed to be experiencing some relief from previous days. But my precious moment was when I realized that for the first time in I don't know how long, Josh was here with just Agustin and I. Last year, when he came home from college for both Thankgiving &; Christmas, he always had a friend with him, (tongue in cheek here! Some of you know who it was don't you?). Since Josh lives with his grandparents in Tampa, he never sleeps here anymore. At least last year, he would so enjoy any chance of not having to go back to the dorm, that he would sleep here in his old bed on all vacations or go home week-ends. But tonight for a short period of time, maybe 2 hours or so, I felt like we had gone back in time. He was so soundly sleeping on the sofa, looking very innocent and tired. The only thing different was that now in his hand he clutched his cell phone!!! (He is never far from that thing!) It brought memories flooding back to my mind of his childhood days when he would always go to sleep with some little action figure or truck, etc. in his little hands! Then wake up in the morning looking for it before uttering a word or getting out of bed. And he never went anywhere with out some small toys in his pockets. I remember when we went out to eat with Rita and her family once, Rita observed that Josh acted very much as an only child, which he was in those days. Her reasoning for that statement was due to the fact that since he didn't have siblings to help entertain him, he always went places prepared! He simply took along his own entertainment in the form of small pocket toys. Well tonight, emotion swept over me like only you mom's can understand! Where has the time gone? But as he slept there, I really got to study him without making him feel self conscience. It was wonderful! I told Agustin we switched one baby out for the other. Shane had left, and we had Josh. It was great while it lasted, having my big, strapping 19 year old son home alone with us for a little while. Agustin brought out a blanket and covered him up. That awoke him. They watched soccer together a little bit. I went to the living room to contemplate on today's visits. It blessed me to hear them interacting one on one. How I miss that! Of course it was about Sports! Finally he got up and readied himself to depart. I was secretly hoping he would spend the night, but all of his things are at Grandma's (phone charger, ...) I know he likes order and loves the security of things all being in one place. One day soon maybe he will spend the night and we can have a leisurely breakfast together. I can always hope! Thanks for listening.