Over the Train Tracks and Through the Woods, To Jodie's House I Go

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans! After yesterday's hoopla at work, I was so happy to be able to just sleep in and enjoy a quiet morning at home. I ran a LP of original and vintage American folk music that I listen to on quieter American holidays like Thanksgiving during breakfast. After the music, I watched DVDs while I made Cranberry Cinnamon Streusel Bread and Cranberry Drops (the latter from a Betty Crocker Cooky Book recipe). Did Garfield's Thanksgiving first, then Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and The Mayflower Voyagers. Worked on the cookies while Planes, Trains, and Automobiles was on.

By the time I'd switched to the black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons The Grocery Boy and Mickey's Good Deed, the bread and cookies were cooling on the table. The day had started out cold and cloudy, but the sun started breaking out of the clouds around noon, and by 2, it was gorgeous, windy, and 60 degrees.

(Incidentally, those two b&w shorts are some of my favorite Disney cartoons. I usually watch Grocery Boy around Thanksgiving; though it really has nothing to do with the holiday, it does involve Mickey the grocery clerk and Minnie making a big dinner...before Pluto steals the turkey. The touching Mickey's Good Deed is a sweet Great Depression Christmas tale on how street performer Mickey gives up the one thing he prizes to help a group of kittens on Christmas Eve.)

It was such a nice day, I left for Jodie's a bit early and went the long way around, instead of over the train tracks. Jodie's house was already filled with her relatives, my friend and Jodie's neighbor Erica and her mother Miss Helen, and Jodie's college-age sons and their friends. Feeling a little awkward, I went around the corner to Dad and Uncle Ken's for a little while. Dad was watching the Packers-Lions game. (The Lions were getting their rear-ends handed to them, 33-12.) My stepsister Jessa was napping. Uncle Ken and Dolores were getting ready to host their own meal with Dolores' family at Uncle Ken and Dad's house. I happily played with Dolores' grandchildren May, Blake, and Mercedes.

Dad, Jessa, and I finally headed over to Jodie's for dinner around 4. We chatted more with her relatives and played the new Super Mario Bros Wii game that looks something like the original 8-bit Mario games with the moves of the third one. Dinner was on the table promptly at 5. We ended up having 20 people eating in Jodie's fairly small house, which meant a lot of creative seating positions. (I was smart enough to grab the chair in the front table next to Jodie.)

Dinner was terrific. We had turkey, real (not boxed) stuffing, green beans, Miss Helen's orange sweet potatoes, cole slaw, Erica's cranberry relish (made from real cranberries and apples), pearl onions in white sauce, corn, mashed potatoes, and crescent rolls. (The rolls had burnt bottoms from when someone forgot to check on them.) I ate everything but the corn and the mashed potatoes.

Dessert was equally huge. Erica brought pumpkin and apple pies from a bakery in Collingswood. Someone brought a sweet potato pie. There were mini-cupcakes, my bread and cookies, and gingerbread. I had cupcakes, cookies, and a huge slice of pumpkin pie, but I really was stuffed by then.

My Cranberry Drop Cookies were a big hit. Jodie's relatives couldn't get enough of them. One guy asked to take them home. I had no problems with that. The recipe was huge. I kept half for my cookie jar and brought the other half to Jodie's dinner. Watched the kids play Super Mario for a little longer before I finally headed out.

While I am thankful for many things - my family, the friends I do have, my home, not having to work today - I can't help feeling a little left out. I really wish I had a family to cook for, or at least someone I could invite along with me to these parties. I never know what to say to strangers who are over the age of 12. I wish I could have Thanksgiving at my own home, with my own family and friends, instead of just being there.