Just us !

When Mike and I first got married we were never at home for holidays, as a matter of fact it was exhausting how we had so many invitations .We then had the season where We hosted many holiday meals.I enjoyed this season though have many memories of being overwhelmed and more exhausted than the previous season. Fast forward twenty years and the invitations ( both to us and from us)have dwindled to the point where we are celebrating Thanksgiving alone this year.In all fairness, it was not planned this way but in the past since my older brother and his wife got tired of trying to please everyone( run from place to place and not eat more here than there and so on), they did what I could have never done and decided to decline all invitations .At this point My Mom and I decided that she would cook Thanksgiving dinner and I would cook Christmas. My little brother was unmarried when this started so he was included in both,however he has recently missed dinners here and there in favor of his wife's wishes to attend her families functions out of town. Don't get me wrong, I understand but it is what it is. Either way, Mom and I always stuck with the system and it worked. Fast forward to last month when Mom nervously requested to talk to me. It seems that my Paternal Grandmother, who has recently been moved to Georgia to live with Dad's sister but ended up in a nursing home there, is coming to Ohio with my aunt for Thanksgiving . My Dad hasn't seen her since his trip to Georgia in August and My Mom hasn't seen her in even longer. Because of this and the fact that Grandma will get in late Wednesday be at Dad's other sister's for Thanksgiving, and then leave Friday, Mom respectfully asked if I would excuse them. She insisted that she would cook Christmas dinner. Of course this is understandable and I would do the same if in her place, so I cheerfully said" no problem" which it isn't,it's just weird to be cooking for just my family. I usually cook a complete turkey dinner ( turkey, stuffing( two types as one is a family recipe but not liked by Mike ), mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, home made bread)and a complete ham dinner ( ham, cheesy potato hash brown casserole, corn, more home made bread) as well as usually four or five desert choices (pecan pie, pumpkin pie (I don't eat it but other's do), cheesecake, pumpkin roll ( which I do eat), cookies, and usually another couple kinds of pie. Though I am cutting down on the deserts for just us, I am thinking of keeping everything else the same. It will be an astronomical amount of food but Mike is off so far on Friday and Sunday and the boys are off all weekend so leftovers will be a blessing.In the end,I am kind of looking forward to just us !