By Diane Goldsmith
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
PHILADELPHIA - Getting ready for Thanksgiving would be plenty for Kristina Casey even if she weren't pregnant and she and her husband, Scott, weren't putting their home up for sale.
But their dream house came along unexpectedly, so she's shifted into overdrive.
The plan is for her to cook a gourmet feast from scratch for their immediate families - five guests with four dogs - coming from New England and the Midwest. (The Caseys have a toddler and two collies of their own.)
With their West Chester, Pa., Colonial hitting the market, Casey has also been cleaning and stowing things until 1 a.m. for weeks, and putting up the family's elaborate Christmas decorations early.
So on a recent Sunday morning, dozens and dozens of collectible figures, animatronic Santas and elves, and stuffed animals were already arranged in the family room. But without a live Christmas tree, the room didn't look finished.
"It doesn't look like Christmas," Kristina wailed. "It's got to be done today," she added, noting that she and Scott would visit a tree farm that afternoon.
While she spoke, little Emelie grabbed an animatronic gopher and joyously spun around with it. Handel's Water Music wafted from a Baby Einstein DVD in the background.
With big brown eyes and blond hair, this little sweetie pie personifies the poignancy of the holidays for her family. Her birth a year-and-a-half ago brought it all out, said Scott Casey, recalling how everyone would look to see the expression on her face as she opened gifts.
For Kristina Casey, the holidays have always been the stuff of memories.
"We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to create the Martha Stewart holiday," she said. "But I love the holiday season. I think it's very special when you can have the family together," which is what made last Christmas her best yet.
Kristina, 32, a financial analyst who is now staying home with her child, responded to our request for readers' tales of hectic Thanksgivings with a vivid account of how her best-laid plans for her daughter's first Thanksgiving went awry.
The day before, Scott's father and stepmother called to say they wouldn't be driving down from Maine because of impending snow. Her brother-in-law had canceled previously.
"So here I was with my army of food," Kristina wrote in her e-mail. "I was angry and sad and disappointed and elated and relieved all at the same time. I decided right then and there that the holiday was turning casual.
"I made all of the food, but served it at our tiny kitchen table. We decided not to dress up (except for the baby b/c it was her first Thanksgiving), and we ate leftovers for DAYS!" she wrote, including her parents and brother in the we.
"Christmas was even worse because everyone DID show up," Kristina went on, detailing how she ended up doing all the shopping for gifts not just from Scott and herself, and from the baby, but most of the gifts her parents and brother gave, too. (Not sure of what to get, her family had left shopping to the last minute and were planning to give cash - which Kristina nixed.)
Then there were the six dogs. One of the visiting canines drooled, posing a danger that folks might slip. Another left "presents" - no fun with a baby crawling around. Yet a third, a toy poodle, occasionally nipped at the larger dogs.
She tried to pen the miscreants into certain areas, only to have them magically freed soon after.
So why has she allowed dogs again this year?
"Because I can't say no. They're like extended family. I know if someone told me I couldn't bring my dogs, I'd feel a little disappointed."
On corralling the visiting dogs, Scott, 37, who owns an audience-response business in Exton, Pa., said he realizes, "This year, I'm going to have to put my foot down, especially since we're looking to sell the house."
Both he and Kristina say the holidays have kicked up a notch since little Emme - the first grandchild in the immediate family - joined the clan. She's certainly lifted the spirits of her maternal grandmother, who is battling cancer.
Kristina Casey's father, a diabetic who has endured a quintuple bypass, is also in fragile health.
"Every year is an absolute blessing," she said. "I'm so grateful to be able to see them."
The rest of her to-do over the holidays stems from her childhood in Chicago, where "it was always so special, with carols by the tree and a certain type of cider, and how you do the turkey and the stuffing."
"The tradition snowballed with me and became an obsession to create the Hallmark card holiday.
"It gives me a rush when people come in and say, 'I've never been in a house so festive.' They feel like they've been transported to Christmas overload."
So she's going forth with plans for two 11-hour days of shopping, prepping and cooking for Thanksgiving. With family members watching Emme, that shouldn't be hard, Kristina said as she paged through Bon Appetit for ideas.
The beat goes on to finish decorating, too. The couple scored an 8-foot pine from a tree farm, and with the help of Kristina's parents and brother, who arrived later that day, they decorated it, putting up strings and strings of tiny lights and ornaments.
"It's pretty bright," Scott reported. "The space shuttle might look at it as a beacon and come landing in our home."
Now, the big question is the fetal ultrasound, set for next Friday. Should Kristina invite everyone into the hospital room to share the moment when she learns her baby's gender?
"I'm torn," she said. "It depends on my mood swing for the day. It's such a great and wonderful experience to share, but it's also private," she said, indicating that hospital rules may determine the answer.
"If it's meant to be, it will work out."
© 2003, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
