Ahh, Thanksgiving weekend... It's my favorite time of year. The weather is colder, meaning more knitting and less bugs; and the holiday season has arrived. Our little Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch, although we had a bit of a scare Wednesday night- we had to take little Spencer to the emergency vet when he developed an earache.

The poor little guy started shaking his head nonstop, pacing back and forth, and would yelp suddenly once in a while as if somebody pinched him. Plus his little, curly tail had been droopy all evening. We didn't want to wait until Friday to take him to the vet, so off we went to the emergency vet. Two hours later, we were sent home with ear cleaner, ear drops and an oral antibiotic in case it was an inner ear infection. Apparently, there is so much crap in his left ear that the vet couldn't really see very far in, and so couldn't tell us for sure what was going on. If the cleaner doesn't work, we'll have to bring him to the regular vet and knock him out to really clean down in there and find out.

A little back story: Spencer has had a couple ear infections over the past few years. Much like his feet and face, he doesn't want anyone going near his ears. Past attempts to clean out his ears have not gone too well, and it always took two of us- one to hold his squirmy ass down, and one to do the cleaning. It was always a fight and never seemed to really work. It doesn't help that he is small, and therefore has small ears which are hard to wipe out.

So when the vet sent us on our way, I was pretty sure this we were going to end up having to knock him out when their plan didn't work. The next morning, I figured I would try to clean his ears on my own, because I really don't want to have to wake Scott up all next week to help me clean the dog's ears before I go to work. Miraculously, Spencer was pretty good about it! I had to sort of half-sit on him- not enough to squish him, but just so he couldn't get up. Maybe he sensed that I'm not screwing around, maybe he's getting old, or maybe he just really hated the last brand of ear cleaner... whatever the reason, he sat reasonably still and let me clean out his ears. And again today- ears cleaned with minimal drama. This leaves me with some hope that we won't have to knock him out after all.

Oh, and during yesterday's cleaning, I could swear a fly flew out of his ear afterwards. It could have just been a weird coincidence/illusion, but as I was wiping the excess cleaner away, Spencer shook his head and out came a fly. It was the strangest thing, and I don't really even trust my own eyes because it is just so ridiculous. But I will also note that ever since then, he has barely been shaking his head. Who knows.

Other than Spencer's little escapade, it was a pretty uneventful Thanksgiving. Scott and I lounged around in our jammies most of the day, watching documentaries on Netflix. We showered up mid-afternoon, and began cooking our typical Thanksgiving feast. For the past 5 years, it's been just the two of us, and we've gotten quite good at it. Our dinner consists of the following: one boneless turkey breast roast with gravy, jellied cranberry sauce, stuffing, corn, mashed sweet potatoes, and rolls. A day or two ahead, I make pumpkin bread (which is lucky to make it to Thanksgiving Day); and I make a pumpkin pie the night before or morning of. Almost everything comes out of a box or can- it's fast and low-stress. It's also perfect for two, and gives us just enough leftovers for dinner the next night.

After dinner, we lounged around some more, watched more movies, and eventually ate some pie. We talked to our families on the phone for a bit, and everyone seems to be doing well. It was a perfect day. As for being thankful... well, aside from the usual (husband, family, friends, health, etc.), I am thankful that Abraham Lincoln stuck Thanksgiving on a Thursday, leading to a four day weekend for millions across the country. And I'm thankful that I'm one of those millions, and that I get to spend three days knitting and watching Christmas movies.

I hope that whoever reads this also had a great Thanksgiving this year, and that your holiday season is off to a great start!