Just since my last missive on the 20th, my county jumped from 260 confirmed COVID cases to 317. For the more populous areas, that might sound like a lot, but we were at the end of the summer before we even had 100. We’re definitely seeing a surge here.

My granddaughter, my son, and I have been sniffling and sneezing for a few days now. When I developed a sore throat, I decided to bite the bullet and go for a COVID test. I was pretty sure we all just had colds, but I didn’t want to take a chance, especially with me planning to travel next week. Those tests are not pleasant. I went to our local hospital and within a few minutes a man dressed like the picture above came out to my car. He inserted a swab in each of my nostrils up into my sinuses. My sinuses don’t like that very much It felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head. This morning there was a message in my electronic chart that no COVID was detected. Colds, just like I figured.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. A few years back we saw someone on television who slow roasted the turkey for 24 hours. The idea is you cook the turkey basically at the temperature you want to meat to cook to, so it never gets hotter than that and dries out. We’ve done it that way since then and it comes out so good! It also makes for a less hectic Thanksgiving morning. Now I usually do the turkey and stuffing the day before and put it in the oven, and my daughter takes care of pies and sides.

I posted about it on Facebook, and some of my friends were concerned about cooking it that way due to the possibility of the turkey being at a certain temperature for too long. We haven’t had any issues cooking it this way and you can find guidance for it on various sites now. Williams-Sonoma even has a blog entry about it now. I am also a heretic who actually puts the stuffing inside the turkey. My mother did it as well. In my 54 years of eating turkey, no one has ever gotten sick from eating our stuffing. The whole idea is the stuffing absorbs juices from inside the turkey. Stuffing made outside the turkey is just seasoned bread. I use stale hamburger buns since they are denser than most commercial bread nowadays. Even with that, it took four bags of hamburger buns to make my stuffing for our turkey this year.

We are also having mashed potatoes, corn pudding, green bean casserole, and rolls with the turkey tomorrow. No one has to work so we’re going to eat in the early afternoon at our leisure then have dessert a few hours later when we’re hungry again. We have a Zoom meeting planned with other family members before we eat, which will be a nice visit. We wouldn’t be getting together at the holidays regardless. I think the last time the “whole” family was together was 2012.

The virus might be keeping people apart, but I think it should also make you appreciate more what you have. I’m grateful that I have not lost anyone close to me this year. I went through enough of that a few years back, without a pandemic. For those who have lost someone and are feeling their absence this holiday season, I feel your pain. The first year without my mother and my daughter I had zero ambition to do anything holiday related. I still probably wouldn’t be doing much if it weren’t for my daughter, my son, and my granddaughter.

If you celebrate tomorrow, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!