As for our Thanksgiving, There was a 20-lb turkey (made, injected with butter, and basted by me), two kinds of potatoes, 3 pies, green been casserole, a relish platter (that's basically a giant platter of pickles requested by yours truly, the pregnant one), corn pudding (a personal fave), gravy, cranberry sauce, cookies, coffee and football! We don't have a ton of room in our little home but we enjoyed ourselves by taking a walk while we waited for the Turkey to finish roasting. The weather was perfectly brisk, so we were able to spend most of the day with the door open to cool off the house from all the oven and roaster heat that got worked up between having 9 bodies in the house. My sister and her husband and two kiddos were in attendance (with the most delicious chocolate-peanut butter pie anyone has every tasted) and our friend from church who had to work a half-day was able to make it just in time from work to enjoy the meal. Here is my turkey and one of the plate setups.
Black Friday it was just my parents and I. Texan had to work, and my sister's hubby spent the day being handy around their house. We waited until about 11 am to go shopping, so we missed the crowds (except at Chik-Fil-A! That place was a mad house). I scored some baby swag--including a beautiful baby book to start recording her milestones. So far, I have added our pregnancy announcement and an appointment card with my OBGYN's name and info on it. Thanks, Mom and Dad! I was so sad to see my parents go that afternoon because I know I won't see them again until Christmas time, most likely. But at least I could look forward to a fun weekend spending gift cards and being chauffeured around by Texan, right? Yeah, he was my driver on Saturday as I made some exchanges and bought some essentials including a changing-table pad and a boogie straw. We had lunch at Jason's Deli then went home to have our friends over for what we call a picnic and games. (It's a picnic because they bring their own dinner, and we eat our T-day leftovers but it's fun because we're together!) We played an awesome card game which I will be teaching to my parents soon so I can improve.
That night around midnight we climbed into bed and Texan was fast asleep in minutes. I, on the other hand, got out my iPad and started to surf around on Facebook where I noticed that my grandpa was in the hospital for his heart. There was a sweet picture of him sitting up on the edge of his bed, smiling, surrounded by my younger cousins there for a visit. I made a mental note to call my grandma the next day after church and add my grandpa to our prayer request list in Sunday School. My parents recently bought plane tickets for them to come out to Texas for Christmas, and I've been hoping that maybe baby SJ will come early enough for them to meet her. But at 7:30, my phone rang and I was awoken to see that it was my mom calling. When I answered she didn't instantly say, "Oh! Did I wake you up?" So I knew she wasn't calling for something trivial. But I wasn't awake enough to weigh the possibilities, really. She simply said, "Cara, it's Mom."
"I know...what's up?" I asked.
"Boo, Grandpa died."
She went on with a few details of when and why, and ended by saying, "Just lay down and let your husband put his arms around you and have a good cry. That's what I did this morning."
And that's exactly what I did. We disconnected and I lay there crying to Texan, telling him the details between my quiet sobs and letting him rock and 'shh' me sweetly. For the first time in my life, someone close to me has gone to Heaven, and the thought of that strange new feeling had my mind reeling. As I stopped crying and began to quiet down again, Texan said, "Remember when we took your grandparents out to their favorite seafood restaurant and I got a pearl in my oyster?" We lay there in our bed and laughed about how excited my grandpa was over that tiny little pearl. It was the size of the tiny ball in a ball-point pen. But it was awesome, and grandpa encouraged me to shine it up and save it forever. But it was so small, I have no idea where it ended up. It was impossible to keep track of.
This morning made me so thankful for my husband's ability to support and comfort me without saying things that seem like a waste of breath. He let me be sad. The hardest part, really, was praise and worship at church this morning. The first song we sang was "Oh come, all ye faithful," and I couldn't stop the tears. My grandpa loved Christmas--especially Christmas baking. His homemade fudge was so sweet I needed a glass of milk following each bite. But I've been eating it my whole life. I even remember in elementary school when my grandparents visited for Christmas, he packed my lunch on the last day before Christmas vacation started. I sat at lunch with sandwich bag full of peanut butter fudge wondering if I could eat it all without getting a tummy ache. And that day after school, he picked me up in his GMC pickup truck. It was the most exciting and memorable day simply because he was there. He later started making chocolate-mint fudge just for me as I got older and developed a taste for it. He always made me a nut-free batch of all of his holiday goodies, but teased me that everything was full of nuts. I can't believe I'm writing this. One more Christmas with him in the kitchen hunched over the counter, leaning his head over my shoulder and asking for a kiss still wouldn't have been enough to heal my heart, I know. One comfort I find is in the movements in my tummy. My sweet girl's hiccups and elbow jabs remind me that precious life goes on. She wouldn't have noticed if I had sat around sobbing all day, I know. But going to church, seeing my friends, serving my husband and curling up on the couch in the light of our Christmas tree are all things that I can do to make this a day to remember my beloved Yiya. I haven't cried my last tear over his passing. I haven't written my last thought down to keep his memory alive in my mind. And I will always tell my daughter how much she would have loved Yiya and how she would have learned to like his teasing. Teasing was such a huge part of who he was. His heart was that huge for his family. He had to find a way to show us affection at all times--and he did that by teasing. But when he was picking and poking fun at us, he was really saying, "I love you. You're my favorites."
In preggers news:
I have my 35-week checkup on Tuesday where I'll be tested for Beta Strep and tell my doctor how SJ has had hiccups every day at least once a day for the past 3 days. What's up with that? Three times today! I'm sure he'll say it's nothing. But, I am going to ask anyway. I am going to start doing yoga again this week. I'm writing that so that I will be forced to give you an update on it next time. I have stopped working out due to pain in my hips and pelvis. My lower back is also very sore after so much as walking around a store for an hour. So, I'm going to start slowly. I just don't want to lose all the progress I have made in strengthening my body for labor. On a positive note, though, I am sleeping like a baby. I am getting a ton of sleep and soaking up every bit of rest I can before baby. In fact, that's what I'm going to do this very moment.
Good night, dear readers.
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