Oh right, I should probably write a blog post! (My lack of recent posting is not terribly indicative of my ability to complete NaBloPoMo this year. Which I want to do. Because otherwise I will have dreadful NaBloPoMo FOMO and no one wants that. It might be a Take It Day By Day kind of thing. If you’d like to dither with me, make sure you let San know.)
Halloween is tomorrow and I am feeling very raw right now about facing enduring celebrating our first holiday in the new house. Nicole really hit the nail on the head with her post today, about these changes feeling like small deaths. I do feel like I’m in mourning. Maybe that’s why I haven’t put out a single Halloween decoration, why I haven’t purchased a single mum or even a pumpkin, why I didn’t buy Halloween candy at all until yesterday. (Seriously. I haven’t had even a single kernel of candy corn!) Maybe if I don’t participate in this holiday, it won’t feel like I’m missing something. It won’t feel like I’ve taken something away from myself and my daughter by uprooting us all and leaving our lovely neighbors and cozy, Halloween-friendly neighborhood behind.
Well. Tomorrow, we begin creating new holiday memories, in a new neighborhood, with new neighbors who have (luckily) been kind enough to include us in their trick-or-treating plans. Maybe I’ll even buy a last-minute pumpkin at the grocery store, or see if Home Depot has any straggly mums on sale for half-price. Or maybe I won’t, and I’ll mourn The Way It Was this year, and approach The Way It Can Be with new energy next October.
Dinners for the Week of October 30-November 5
- Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken with Veggies: This is what happens when I buy food without a plan; I end up having to find a recipe that sort of fits what I have, but sort of doesn’t, and hoping for the best. In this case, I have chicken, parsnips, a yam, and a potato. And probably an onion. Close enough, right?
- Salad with Teriyaki Chicken: I am really in a salad mood lately.
- Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup: We haven’t had this in many, many months but it is the perfect antidote to the dreary wet grey slop that has settled over us.
- Guinness Beef Stew and Fall Salad: My parents are coming over for dinner this weekend, and this is what I plan to feed them. Is stew a weird thing to serve for dinner? Turns out I overthink entertaining even when it is my own parents.
- Pan Roasted Pork Chops and Broccoli: I haven’t really settled on the exact preparation for the pork chops or the broccoli. (I prefer steamed broccoli to roasted, although my husband is the opposite.) Game time decision.
I am also really leaning into the soup weather, and plan make some butternut squash soup to eat for lunches. Probably, if the current weather is any indication of future performance, we will have a lot of leftover Halloween candy to deal with, too.
I made the crockpot Chicken and Wild Rive Soup yesterday and portioned it out for my lunches this week – that recipe is so good, thanks for recommending it!
It is so good, isn’t it?! So glad you liked it!
Change is tough. This year is the first in almost a decade we won’t be trick-or-treating in our neighbourhood. I’m trying to be upbeat about it – and am mostly succeeding – but you know WHY we’re not staying in the neighbourhood for the evening and, quite frankly, it sucks. I want to be able to walk out our door and feel comfortable being around people in costumes coming to my door but I’m not, so we’re going a few towns over for some fun. And it’s okay, but also…it’s bittersweet. So I get this post A LOT.
Sending hugs <3 Hope it's a special night and the start of many wonderful Halloween's in your new space.
Sending hugs to you, too, my friend. I’m sorry that this situation is impacting you and your family in so many ways.
It’s okay to be in mourning! It’s okay to be sad. Change can be really hard. Yes, you get to make new memories in your new house but you can also grieve that things are different. I get it. I totally do. xoxoxo
Also, I am making sheet pan veggies with coconut rice tonight! It’s a new recipe but I’m inspired by you and all your yummy recipes – I’ll let you know if it’s a winner!
Oooooh yum!!! Definitely pass it on if it’s a good one!
Change is hard but also exciting as you open yourselves up to new traditions and memories.
We get so few trick or treaters here (and with rain expected tomorrow and it being a school night, we’ll probably have even less than usual) so I bought two small bags of candy. The Husband, in a fit of unusual optimism, declared that wasn’t enough so he will be buying more tomorrow – I feel sure we will have plenty of leftover candy to hold us until Christmas.
What is Carla going as this year?
Yes, that’s a useful perspective Gigi! Thank you. I love your husband’s optimism — that’s a win-win situation if I ever heard of one! Carla will be a vampire!!!
I would be delighted by stew for dinner – especially if someone else made it!
I bought Halloween candy ahead of time this year instead of today or tomorrow like I normally do so yay there but I have a really hard time getting into the spirit of the holidays.
Well you and I will just have to power through, spiritless. Although it makes me a little sad for both of us, it’s not the worst thing and it doesn’t mean every Halloween/holiday will be the same. xoxo
I’m sorry the holiday is not feeling the same this year. It’s okay to give parts of a pass.
I think stew is a perfectly lovely dinner.
Okay, excellent! Another vote for stew. Thanks, Steph!
Stew is a great October dinner-guest dinner! With nice bread, maybe? Are you gluten-free, I can’t remember.
I get being sad, and you’re allowed. I hope tomorrow night exceeds all your expectations. I didn’t get pumpkins this year either – it was pouring rain when we went to get the pumpkins for Eve and her friends to paint and I couldn’t deal with heaving a couple of big ones into the wagon, and then things got very busy.
I am NOT gluten free and bread is a GREAT idea. Thank you! I guess it will be a pumpkin free 2023 for both of us. There is always next year!
It is interesting to me, because my family-of-origin never did the exact same thing year after year for any holiday. I never moved as a kid, but my parents worked jobs that required being on call, so we couldn’t have One True Way to do the holidays.
My husband, on the other hand, also never moved (his dad still lives there!) as a kid and his dad worked a job that included being on call, but his family very much has the One True Way to do important holidays.
This is causing friction now, as I do NOT wish to travel for Christmas this year (we have traveled every year we could since 2011, I think?, minus 2019 when we were living overseas and I said I wanted to experience a true British Christmas) and he is having a lot of Feels about not being with his family for Christmas. I am hoping our 15th month old helps distract him from moping all season. But Christmas doesn’t have to be on Dec 24/25th!
On the broccoli front, have you tried steam roasting your broccoli? That might be a good compromise for you and your husband.
I think it’s OK to give yourself a pass for a year–adjustment takes time and the holidays are hitting before you’ve really had time to adapt to the changes. Stew in the fall and winter is a perfect meal! Comfort food for sure.
It’s SO HARD to make new traditions– even for happy reasons. I hope you have a fabulous Halloween, and when in doubt hand out airplane bottles of liquor to the parents.
Nicole’s post was a good one- I hope it was helpful to you and I hope you end up having a fun Halloween! The first of many in the new house.
I’m excited that you’re doing NaBloPoMo! I promise we won’t kick you out if you miss a day : ) I’ve been missing your posts so I’m happy we’ll be getting more of them!
My take on change is that you have to accept it but can first whine/mourn it for a bit. All change involves grief to a certain degree, but then it becomes the new normal. You’re just in that transitions period. Happy Halloween, btw.
Oh friend, change is so hard.
I hope your trick or treat is fun tonight. Sending you hugs. 🖤
To be honest, Halloween was not my favorite. I often saw groups trick or treating together and we weren’t often invited to join a group. It was hard having a few kids (namely Lad) who didn’t get invited to trick or treat with friends after a certain age. Eek, I was always happy when it was over. But for you, I get that this is a new place and that you have some uncertainties. I really hope that you click with your new neighbors and that you look back on this Halloween fondly.
BTW – I’ve decided to join the NaBloPoMo thing. Thanks for sharing the details.
I think it is okay not to have the mums or the pumpkin and for this year to just be what it is, a new beginning! You don’t have to have all of your S together right away!
I love soup season; it is just so much more satifying when it is chilly or raining out. Lucky for me (sarcasm here) it is supposed to rain this weekend (joy) so maybe I will make some soup too! Thanks for the inspiration.
And good luck with NBPM! I have FOMO but I know I can’t keep up, so I would like to dither with you but I will just have to read all of your posts and comment and that will be enough for me for now!
It’s been a lot of change for you — and I suspect you are not a person that loves change! It sounds like your new neighbours (sorry about the spelling — I AM Canadian) are lovely and inclusive. But it’s still okay to miss the old. I do suspect that in time you will absolutely love your new home, neighbourhood, create new traditions and memories treasure the memories of the old. I’m old enough to know that change is inevitable and most times we eventually embrace the new. Meanwhile, hugs to you.
I think we are trading places on liking salads. I usually eat them every day for several years and today I was like – bleh. I think I need a break. Maybe it’s my cold or cough or exhaustion or general ennui? So my plan is to do a big sheet pan meal of some sort for my lunches this week.
I hope you all had a great Halloween in your new house. I feel like my husband and you could have a buyer’s remorse support group. I would sometimes find him looking at our old house on Zillow! Like 6-12 months after we sold it.