The turkey is thawing in the refrigerator, a 14-pounder; the pumpkin I bought for Halloween has been stored most of the time in the side room, next to the sunflower seeds.  Now it has been washed, scraped out, cut into big hunks and baked until it is soft.  Cooling down now, then I'll scrape it away from the shell, cook it a bit longer with spices, sugar, milk, etc.  I've got to make the pie crusts now, and bread is rising in the pans.  Once the pie shells are filled with cooked pumpkin, they will be baked, and tomorrow I'll bring one to my daughter's house, where my son and son-in-law have a tradition of deep frying the turkey outdoors, while passing a football back and forth.  But my kids only like the jellied kind of cranberry sauce that comes in a can, so I won't bring my cooked from scratch kind along.  

We here at home will be cooking our own turkey on Friday, with stuffing and all home-made side dishes, like pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, and home-made bread. 

Aside from these preparations, I have been in hibernation mode for at least a week now.  It's true I have been getting over a very persistent cold that just will not give up, and I'm looking forward to being well enough to make progress on whatever it is I'm doing these days. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  And we will try not to overeat in the coming days.