That sounds like a lot of work, but also a lot of fun! You’re a great parent for hosting this!
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Yes, this is her first time home since August dropoff! Thankfully I’ve seen her twice but nothing like having her home and I know she is READY.
8 college boys!!! You are going to be running a restaurant. I am sure you will love it though.
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Picked up daughter last night - not seen since we did the two-day moving van trip in August.
She was excited to come home and the 40 minute drive from airport was a great opportunity to catch up. Probably won’t see her again until I drive her back to the airport 10 days from now 
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My daughter just bought a $167 round-trip, non-stop on Delta Atlanta-NYC for the Christmas break. I was convinced it had to be a mistake - but it’s paid for and confirmed!
The only factor I can think of, she can travel mid-week because of how classes fall.
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We’re having some good family time these couple of weeks, aided as always by the fact that we’re all in NYC to begin with. My mother came up from Florida and we celebrated her 80th birthday last night with a nice dinner — which my previously ne’er-do-well brother surprised us by paying for in full, rather than us splitting it as planned. On Wednesday, DW, D19, S22 and I are flying to Jamaica to spend the long weekend there as DW’s 50th birthday falls on Thanksgiving. I’ll have to work from there all day Friday as Black Friday is important in my work, but it’ll still be a great time. Best Thanksgiving wishes to all of you!
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If you can do it the easiest and very delicious way to do a turkey is to deep fry it. Of course you will need a turkey frier that you can pick up at most Walmart, Costco, ace hardware etc. Peanut oil is also recommended. You season a 15# pound bird with cajun seasoning, cook it in the oil for about 45 minutes. Transfer to a brown paper bag to allow it to rest and cool before carving.
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What do you do with the oil afterwards? I’m not cooking a turkey, but I’ve always shied away from deep frying in general for that reason.
There devises you can buy to that are kind of pumps that allows you put the oil back in original container to use again. However you can do the same thing with a funnel and some cheese cloth.
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Good to know and I guess that would work well if you do a lot of frying.
They might still come in handy, even after picking a major next year - when the choices for one or the other minor might is helped by having AP credits, or the AP credit being used to “free up the schedule” in case of having to squeeze in some other elective.
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I have a freshman son at UMD too. He’s made a nice friend group. Can you reach out to me directly? Maybe we can connect them? My son is on a rec soccer team. He went to most of the soccer games. And all of the football games. He got tickets for Dec 2nd bball game. He also goes to the gym & works out or plays bball.
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D22 is home. First semester is going well socially and academically. She has some leadership positions and will be a tour guide. My older S goes to a co- op university and landed a co-op in a field he may want to explore after graduation. I am glad they found colleges that are good fits for them.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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D22 home! We’ve been able to visit her at USC a couple of times but this is her first time back. She is so happy and has matured so much! She is doing really well academically and socially. That is not to say there weren’t bumps in the road — she was extremely homesick at first and she and her awesome roommate struggled to find their friend group.
I don’t think enough is said about the student and parents preparing for significant homesickness. In one of her writing classes they did an essay about themselves at the beginning of the year and almost all the students wrote about missing home. The professor spent time in class discussing since it was such a pervasive issue. USC did a good job at orientation outlining their counseling services and they immerse them in lots of activities at the beginning, but even with that help we went through a few weeks of the dreaded teary phone calls. In the end, you can offer support but they have to figure it out.
Happy Thanksgiving
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My D22 is now home as well. Perhaps it’s because she’s sleep deprived, but she got lost going to the train station and missed her original train. She FaceTimed me en route a bit confused so I asked her to turn the camera around. Lo and behold, she was heading in the opposite (wrong) direction!
But she’s home and we’re all together again. Yay!
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Sounds like she was Lost In the Shuffle😀
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Now what is her subconscious mind telling her? 
Glad some kids are learning to manage their lives, yet are still okay with reaching out to get pointed in the right direction, occasionally.
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Hmmm…
“Occasional” is the key word for my D22! She’s definitely relished her independence, but nice to know you’re still occasionally needed.
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Adulting, step-by-step.
S20 missed his connecting flight two weeks ago and had to wait in the airport for the next one. He kept complaining how his first flight was late, then he took a lazy meandering stroll to the departing terminal. It took him a while to realize he’d missed his flight. Then he realized he didn’t have his phone charger and had to pay the expensive price to buy one at the airport. Lots of lessons learned that day.
Better to learn this lesson now than when he’s on a business trip and ends up missing a meeting.
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S has another week of finals and will be back home on Friday. He spent much of Thanksgiving at his GF’s house.
Unfortunately we lost my DH over the Thanksgiving weekend, so S is doing his best through finals, but it’s not easy.
Very sorry about loss of your DH! How sad and difficult, please accept my condolences.
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