Thanksgiving Prep

I started our Thanksgiving prep today by making some homemade cranberry sauce.  I had that completed by 9am which was nice! 

I was up at around 4am this morning because I was having great difficulty breathing.  I was actually having a very involved dream about being unable to breath and when I awoke I instantly knew why.  I really was having difficulty breathing.  I had to get up to use my inhaler and take some other medications.  I was able to fall back asleep for a bit but I really did not get nearly enough sleep last night and what little sleep I got was while not getting enough oxygen.  Instead of sleeping later this morning, I chose to get up early and start some Thanksgiving prep work in the kitchen. 

I ended up having difficulty breathing on and off all day long.  I'm hoping tonight will be better than last night so I can get some much needed rest.  Of course, it is good to breath easily too!  Breathing difficulties are a far too common problem with my illness.  Fortunately, no other symptoms developed today.  One symptom is okay...  two symptoms means emergency medications are in order immediately.  Still...  having great difficulty breathing, even by itself, impacts everything negatively.

As soon as I got up this morning I started collecting all the stuff I would need for my cranberry sauce...  fresh cranberries, a Fuji apple, maple syrup, apple juice, lemon zest, sugar, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg.  I always add an extra fruit in the cranberry sauce.  Sometimes I use some sort of berry, sometimes I use pears.  This year I chose a nice sweet Fuji apple.  

It really doesn't take all that long to make cranberry sauce and it always turns out far better than that nasty canned cranberry gelatin-like substance that most people serve.  We like to have enough fresh cranberry sauce to use on sandwiches too in the days after Thanksgiving.  I think it takes longer to collect the ingredients than it does to make it!  And, you need to let it cool down a bit before putting it in jars.  It is really simple to make though.

Naturally, both Sheila and I did a thorough taste test this morning while I was putting all the ingredients together.  Sometimes I make it with the spices a little on the heavy side but this year we are sort of middle of the road...  kind of a mellow taste but clearly homemade.  

I plan to run to the supermarket first thing tomorrow morning to pick up some last minute stuff for Thanksgiving.  I also need to try to pick up some Christmas wreaths for our windows.  We attempted to do that on Sunday but they didn't have the wreaths we wanted yet.  Hopefully they will have them available tomorrow.