The Chambermaid: Pre-Thanksgiving preparations

Our refrigerator died on Saturday, and no one knows how to fix it, so for the past few days, we've been living out of coolers on the veranda, and that doesn't look likely to change anytime soon. The ever-vigilant Friday has been on duty, and woke me up several times last night, beginning at 2:45.

There's no chance any critters will get near our coolers with Friday on patrol. But it means I didn't get much quality sleep, either.
Knowing that I was going to be challenged this Thanksgiving, I decided to make life easier on myself and order our Thanksgiving pies from Yoder's, which is a restaurant run by Mennonites. The Mennonites make awesome pies. I have always made my own pies, and am very picky, but Yoder's pies are so delicious, I feel fine about relying on them.
Today is pie pick-up day, and Yoder's is a madhouse all day long, so Wyatt & I decided that our strategy would be to hit the ground early and arrive when the restaurant opened at 8:00 a.m. Having made numerous trips outside w/Friday, I woke up late, so of course needed a good cappuccino before leaving, and Wyatt needed breakfast.
And then I noticed I needed to fill up the car -- 8:18 running late!

Once we arrived at Yoder's, we saw that everything was under control. There were three pick-up windows open -- one for cash-only.

The girls were so sweet & friendly, and organized.

We had a laugh at the massive amounts of whipped cream they go through! The women have been baking for days, obviously.

Check out that mixing bowl!

We then made our way over to Fresh Market to get everything for tommorrow's feast. Wyatt & I loved the little cranberry bog.

Lots of gorgeous displays.

Pretty glacé fruit...but we'll save that for Christmas.

Since I had to hold off until today to buy my turkey, I ended up w/a massive 19-pounder, the "smallest" one they had left. Oh well. I'll give some to the guard dog, maybe the tryptophan will kick in and he'll conk out and let me get some sleep over the next few days.