Thanksgiving

Jeremy took it upon himself to make a Thanksgiving Feast all by himself :)

He succeeded!  He did an excellent job!

How did this come about?

Well, ever since I was a child, we did Thanksgiving with my paternal grandmother.  It was great!  My uncles and aunts and cousins would all usually be there... which was significant because even though we all lived within an hour of each, we barely ever saw them :(  We lived a mile down the road from my grandmother, so, we saw her practically daily.  Its the only holiday we somewhat celebrated.  We were brought up Jehovah's Witnesses.  We couldn't do any other holiday or birthdays.  But, with this one, not only did everyone have off work and school, but, it was ok to do, kwim?  No pagan origins.

Well, she passed away in April of 2005 (I wasn't aware I was pregnant at the time of her death) from pulmonary fibrosis.  Ever since then, there's been no family Thanksgiving lunch/dinner.

Jeremy & I got together Dec. 31st, 1996.
I'm not sure if that first Thanksgiving together we went to his parents' house or not, but, more than likely, we did.  And so, from then on, we'd arrange it (until my grandma's passing) so that we were able to be with both sides of the family during this holiday.  It worked out well and great to be able to see relatives you don't get to see very often.

Jeremy's father passed away in January 2010.

There was no Thanksgiving Dinner.

This year, no notification or indication of any upcoming dinner; from either side.

Its no surprise from my side.  Like I said, we were brought up without holidays (although, only 2 continue to attend JW meetings out of 7).  And we have a sister that lives in Georgia with her children (minus her oldest bc she just got married in August and is currently living in California).  Though, if plans were made, I'm sure she'd come down.  And then I have another sister who's husband's family all live in Mississippi.  So, they always go there... he gets to hunt while there too.  And I'm sure that even with them, if plans were made, they'd be there too... like if it was on the Wednesday before.

However, the major thing, is that there's really nowhere to host a Thanksgiving Dinner.  Our house is tiny.  Cherie and her 3 girls live with our dad.  Angele & Shane live with our mom until they get their home set up.  I guess Montegut would be the only place to hold anything, but, its not exactly a neutral zone; being that our parents are divorced and other tenions...  Although, I hope that since this past summer, things are ok and everyone would attend such a dinner if one was planned for there.  So, really, that would be our only option.

So, that's why its no surprise my side had no plans.

Except that Cherie and her girls usually do come to our house for that week; or at least she brings her kids and goes to work until Thursday.

And Jeremy's side.  Nothing.  No email.  No phone call.  No text messages.  Nothing.

I remembered one year, we were in GA for Thanksgiving and we went to a restaurant with Aimee & her family.  So, I asked Jeremy what were we going to do for Thanksgiving since we didn't hear from anyone.  I had asked at the beginning of November.  He said he didn't know, but he was going to cook a turkey.  Well, the month continues to go by and still no word from anyone.  All I know is that Cherie & her kids will be here because they usually are :)

As Thanksgiving gets closer, Jeremy brings home two turkeys along with sides and things to make desserts.  He's going to have his Thanksgiving Dinner regardless of anything else.  And if we would have gotten a call to have dinner somewhere else, he could have just brought his food...  

Well, Wednesday, I go into the ER... you can read about that in another blog entry... ha ha ha

So, we wouldn't have been able to attend anyone else's dinner, anyways... but, no one knew that until Wednesday night when I posted it in my facebook status.

Below are the finished results of Jeremy waking up at 7:30 am and having it all together by 12:00 pm!

He loves to cook and takes great pride in his work :)

Master Chef, Jeremy!

 Everyone else that was here to eat (Jeremy took pic on workout bench)

 Everyone being silly :D

Things To Do While Waiting for the Electricity to be Turned On...

Put crazy make-up on each other!

Cherie was the make-up artist this day... hehehe
That's Ursula in front of her and Cherie's daughter, Olivia, behind her.

Ursula all made up.

And a side view :)

Sophia was Cherie's first subject... :)

Sophia putting make-up on 'Nanny' (my mom/her grandma).

Calista

Olivia

Olivia & Ursula (Olivia is a little bit taller than Ursula but not as much as this picture portrays... she's in heels... lol)

Racquelle

All 5 of the girls together:
Top row: Racquelle & Calista
Bottom row: Sophia, Ursula, & Olivia

It was then our turns... Cherie's face was done by Olivia & Sophia (her daughters)

My look was done by Ursula... she said I looked beautiful... ha ha ha yeah... right...

Generosity

Wow... I'm so amazed by the generosity of others!

My sister, Cherie, has had a really bad last couple of weeks. Her trailer caught on fire - electrical fire that started in the walls, last week (I think either Tue or Wed.) and then, this past weekend, her purse was stolen from her car while it was parked at our brother's home (a month prior, my sil, Jessica's (our brother's wife), purse was stolen in the same way; parked at her home and scattered in the bathroom at the park across the bayou)!!!

Anyways... just a few things that I know she's received from others in her community... even from people she doesn't even know!!!

Wait, first off... let's see who was affected by this fire... Cherie and 2 of her daughters (her oldest is with her dad for now in Florida) and our mom. It was actually the room our mom stays in that caught fire. Thankfully, they were all awake (it happened approx. around 9:00pm) and got out without any harm coming to them personally. Everything my mom owns was in that room. It was really the only room that was so badly damaged but the rest of the trailer got smoke damage. And Cherie said that everyone she's talked to has said its pretty much impossible to get rid of that smoke smell... no matter how many times you wash the clothes. I was like, that sucks, because her girls had such cute dresses in there! Precious dresses, really!

Also, while the trailer caught fire, they were also experiencing flooding from tons of rain that had fell over the past 24 hrs! Jessica has pictures of the aftermath... kind of hard to see since it was nighttime but... you get the idea... and you can see the water... there's pictures of my brother with the bottoms of his shorts wet.

Cherie has 2 jobs... she is a beautician in Mathews and also works at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in the same area, at the jewelry counter. Her girls are 3 & 5 yrs old (her oldest is almost 11 yrs old - but, like I mentioned earlier, she's been with her father since the school year began). Olivia's in kindergarten and our mom watches Sophia while Cherie works. Cherie & her husband have been estranged for the past 5 yrs. They aren't divorced but haven't lived together in those 5 yrs. He doesn't send any child support... never has. Also, they married each other twice.

Anyways...

They've been staying with our sister's, Angele, house in Thibodaux.

She received a 'credit card' from The Red Cross to get whatever they need; not gonna say how much, but, its generous :)
A manager at Wal-Mart is allowing her and the girls to stay at a house he owns rent-free for a year!!! Isn't that awesome??? Its like an 80-yr. old house... but, how nice is that??? Plus, he's done stuff to fix it up.
She received a call to open the beauty shop; she gets there and there's a trailer load of furniture!!! Amazing, huh?
Her friend, Angie, has bought Olivia new school clothes... she's giving Cherie a set of bunkbeds and some other furniture as well as clothes!
A near-by thrift store told her that she & mom can go get whatever they need out of there.
Wal-Mart has raised money for her! They're also applying for some sort of hardship deal to see what else they can give her!
Bonnie, another friend, has a list of numbers to call for stuff like that and has been helping as well!
People have been coming out of the woodworks, giving her money! One lady gave her a check for $50 and this guy, in Afghanstan (sp?) sent her $200 via wire!!!
I know there's probably things I'm failing to mention... I'll return and edit if I remember more or mom or Cherie tell me more.


I really just can't get over all awesome everyone is in a family's time of need! I'm floored. It really helps restore your faith in humanity!

It makes me happy for her though because Cherie is a very giving person. And now its coming back to her. She deserves it :D