Thanksgiving Journal: Polishing the Soul?

Constructing table linens.  Rolling piecrust.  Polishing copper.  This Thanksgiving is presenting me with lots of chances to tackle jobs I do only seldomly.

Constructing table linens, for example.
There will be 13 people gathering at our Thanksgiving table this year, so many that we'll be fitting an extra table into our dining room. For that reason, I decided I needed more table linens, the better to cover both tables with similar coverings.

I found this tone-on-tone striped fabric in the bargain bin at RLF Fabrics on Bartholomew Avenue in Hartford.  It's just about the color of my dining room walls.  I made one very large tablecloth with a length of this, using the selvage instead of side hems, and hemming only the two short ends.  With another couple pieces of this, I planned to make a couple of toppers

To use on the two toppers--which are squares of fabric that sit kitty-corner across the table top--I chose this checked fabric from the late, great, and much-lamented Fabric Place of Cromwell, CT

This table topper is almost halfway done

The two fabrics look good together, don't they? 

Putting on a hem

Getting ironed

Two table toppers, ironed and ready for the table

As I was working on these, I thought 1)  My shoulders and upper back are killing me! and 2) Good thing I don't do this very often.

This Thanksgiving is turning into a time of doing things I hardly ever do.

Like rolling out piecrust.  It's a good thing I don't do this very often, because I'm not so great at it.  I suppose if I did it more, I would be better.

And how often do I use this stuff?  And why do I use it in this archaic form?  Once a year.  And because my mother did.

This is the contents of the mincemeat package.  The directions say you're supposed to crumble it gently.  But how can you do that?  This thing has the consistency of a brick.

I polish my copper as infrequently as possible.  But you know what?  When you polish copper, there's such a gratifying difference between the before and after.   Look at the tarnished item on the left.

Now look at it after polishing.  How about that?

Here's a before and after on the same piece.  The part on the left is polished.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could apply a product like that to your soul?

Worth polishing?