Just My Opinion - By Mary Kilen
How Was Your Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving was busy at our house this year with Amanda, Zach, the kids and dogs coming to spend the holiday. They got here in the early evening on Wednesday and the fun began. The kids stayed up a little late on Wednesday night as we were all visiting and they may have been a little grumpy on Thursday morning as a result.
I was up bright and early on Thursday to put my turkey in the roaster. I stuffed the bird, put it in the roaster and turned the roaster on at 325 degrees, expecting dinner to be ready about 12:30 or 1:00.
While the turkey cooked, I started on a few other things and the kids were busy playing games at the table. About 11:00 or so, Dale walked into the kitchen to check out the smells of cooking turkey and that’s when we realized that at some point in the previous half-hour to an hour, it had shut off.
I was pretty sure it blew the circuit and reset it, while muttering to myself about that throwing my timing off. I turned it up and prayed for the best. For the next two hours, I kept having to reset the circuit breaker, unplug it and plug it back in, and try not to cry. I was getting close to just throwing my hands in the air and change out my cooking plan to put it in the oven, but that would mess with the other plans.
Fortunately, it managed to hang on and the turkey turned out beautiful. We were only a little late sitting down to the table. True story, if there isn’t something going wrong while I’m working on Thanksgiving dinner, it’s not a normal year.
We enjoyed a great meal together and then settled in for some football for the rest of the day. There were more games with the kids and then everybody snacked their way through supper.
On Friday, Zach planned to leave and take Judd with him because he got his muzzleloader deer license this year. After years of waiting and earning preference points, he was excited. That excitement was dimmed some when the buck he had been watching died earlier in November during one of the storms. Not to be discouraged, though, he was headed out to do some scouting on Friday.
We all had lunch at Joyce’s Cafe before he left and then Dale and I went home with Amanda and the kids. I sat down and played some Clue Junior before heading back to the office for a little while. Dale came up and started putting up Christmas decorations at the office. As we were getting close to ready to head home, Amanda texted that her car wouldn’t start. It had been sitting outside since Wednesday evening in the cold. She and Dale went to get a new battery while I sat down to play with the kids again for a while. Once the new battery was installed, it was time for Whirla Whips for the kids.
We had plans to go to the movie on Friday night, so after supper, we got things organized. We left the house about 7:30 and saw the line out the door at Regis Theater. We drove around the block and parked by the Promoter. By then, at least, everyone at that point was in the theater.
We paid for our tickets, stood in line for our snacks, and then settled in with what must have been somewhere around 100 of “our closest friends” to watch Moana 2. I heard it was just as busy on Saturday night and still pretty busy on Sunday.
Amanda and the kids took off on Saturday before lunch. Dale and I spent a little time just relaxing and then wandered uptown to check out the vendor show. After supper, it was time for the Parade of Lights. It might have been cold, but it could have been worse. At least the wind wasn’t blowing.
I love the Parade of Lights. It always gets my holiday spirit going! This year’s parade featured some pretty spectacular floats. I hope you enjoyed it too!
On Sunday I started putting up some of my Christmas decorations and Dale plans to start tackling the outside decorations this week. He maybe should have done it when it was nicer out, but it just seemed too early.
As Seen On Facebook
Meanwhile, while looking at Facebook over the weekend, I found a shared post that made my heart smile. It was originally posted on the Grand Forks Rants, Raves and Reviews and read as follows:
“Rave - to Lily, a UND student with a red car. My mother is a diabetic and had low blood sugar on a walk and fell. She saved her life today by answering my mom’s phone and took her to get warm inside the UND loan building.
You don’t know this Lily, but your kindness saved her life literally! She was having very low blood sugar and starting stages of hypothermia. We called an ambulance the second you brought her home. She was admitted to the hospital.
Please if someone knows this extraordinary young lady tag her. I want to take her to lunch or give her a gift card, etc. She was a heaven sent angel. Thank God for your kindness Lily! My mother wants to thank her personally.”
That was Lily Obert, daughter of Perry and Jodi Obert of Stanley. The comments on the shared post have been pretty awesome to read.
I just want to say thank you to Lily, too. I know what life with a diabetic is like and I know just how life threatening that situation was. Good on you, Lily, for being the person who stopped. Good on your parents, too, for raising a wonderfully responsible girl!