Giving Thanks for Family, Food, and Football

The first thing I was thankful for when I woke up around 8AM was the gorgeous weather. It was sunny and bright, not gloomy and windy like it has been the past few days or was last Thanksgiving. Rose called about an hour later, when I was getting dressed. She would pick me up around 12:30 and meet her boyfriend Craig and their son Khai at their apartment, where we'd all leave for Cape May County.

That was fine with me. It gave me a chance to watch Thanksgiving-related cartoons and shorts and to have a marvelous walk. I ran The Three Stooges and Garfield's Thanksgiving before I headed out. The Three Stooges are convicts in England who find themselves sent "Back to the Woods" to battle Indians in the Colonies and romance three pretty Pilgrim lasses. Garfield deals with a far more modern Thanksgiving dilemma in Garfield's Thanksgiving when Liz the Veterinarian insists on him going on a diet the day before Thanksgiving...and then Jon, who is notorious for not being able to cook anything that requires real effort, invites her over for a home-made Thanksgiving dinner. It takes some hard convincing on Garfield's part and an appearance of Grandma (of the Christmas special) to make it a memorable meal for everyone!

It was the perfect day for a stroll around the neighborhood. Much to my surprise, it was chillier than it has been, but not that cold. It was probably warmer than it was at Halloween last month! I made my way down Manor and around to the park behind the Oaklyn School. Geese honked in the river, digging around for fish for their own Thanksgiving luncheon. Little boys chased each other around the playground, while their dads and older brothers played touch football in the field between the playground and the school.

I peered into the windows of classrooms as I went by on my way out to Kendall Boulevard. Many windows were decorated with huge leaves with autumn scenes drawn on them. I saw racks of kids' books and lots of Little People buildings, including the Garage, House, and a barn that reminded me of the one my sisters and I had when we were kids. (I wonder if the left door still makes the mooing sound when you open it?)

Spent the next hour baking Cranberry-Orange-Chocolate Chip Muffins and running more holiday specials. Charlie Brown and the Peanuts crew show each other the true meaning of the holiday in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcie, and Franklin over for dinner. That's a problem, since Chuck's planning to go over to his grandmother's for dinner. Peppermint Patty is hardly appeased by Chuck's meal of popcorn and pretzels, but it's Grandma who finally solves everyone's dinner trouble and gives the kids a reason to be thankful.  


The Mayflower Voyagers digs more deeply into the history behind the holiday. In this episode of the mini-series This Is America, Charlie Brown, the Peanuts are cast as Pilgrim kids on the Mayflower's fateful voyage to the New World. While Lucy complains about the trip on the tiny Mayflower and swoons over Captain Miles Standish, Chuck's worried about the Pilgrims finding their way in the wilderness, Peppermint Patty and Marcie deal with their fears of wild creatures and Indians, and Linus reminds them of the importance of keeping the faith.


I had just pulled the muffins out of the oven when Rose called. She picked me up a few minutes later. We stopped at her apartment first to pick up Khai, Craig, and their things. (Thank goodness they decided to leave the dogs Kelsey and Toby at home this year. There just isn't room in Mom and Dad's small house for even little Kelsey.) There were no problems riding down there. We stopped briefly at a WaWa to get Rose a cup of coffee and me some tea, but other than that, the roads were clear, the weather was gorgeous, and Khai slept most of the way.


Almost everyone was there when we arrived. My brother Keefe and his girlfriend Vicki were playing Wii Bowling. Dad was watching them, and Mom was working on the mashed potatoes in the kitchen. My oldest nephew Skylar played with Matchbox cars. Anny, Skylar's mother, arrived later and left right after dinner - she had 9PM work at the Big Lots in North Cape May.The kids finished with Wii a few minutes later, and Dad switched to the Packers-Lions game. (There was no doubt who would win that one. The Packers have been slaughtering every team they touch all season and the Lions are only so-so. Though the Lions finally rallied in the second half, the Packers came through 27-15.)


We sat down to dinner around 3PM. Mom said this is her 33rd Thanksgiving dinner. She's been making them since high school! She has it down to a science by now, and she makes some of the best. In addition to the mashed potatoes, there was turkey, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, potato rolls, cranberry sauce, carrots, pearl onions in white sauce, and home-made stuffing. I had everything but the mashed potatoes and gravy (I'm not a big fan of brown gravy or white potatoes), and it was all marvelous, as usual. Mom even revealed the secret of her heavenly sweet potato casserole - pumpkin pie spice. No wonder it tastes like dessert at dinner!


We watched a figure-skating special for a while during dinner, then switched to the Cowboys-Dolphins game. Rose, Craig, and I took the little boys outside while Mom and Dad made coffee and set up the desserts. We first went for a walk down the short, dead-end road, but we encountered a scuffle between two dogs that spooked poor Khai. We eventually ended up in Mom and Dad's backyard. Craig pulled Khai around the yard in a big red Radio Flyer wagon, while Rose and I tried to explain to Sky that it was too dark to chase frisbees around.


Rose's friend Colleen dropped by for a visit as we began dessert. Colleen said she was too full from dinner to eat, but the rest of us enjoyed pumpkin pie (my favorite, and apparently Vicki's, too), apple pie, ice cream, Mom's famous chocolate chip bar cookies, and her home-made whipped cream. We had a long chat with Colleen about her sisters and their kids, her tough-but-soft-hearted mother, and her life as a single lawyer in Harrisburg. (And the Cowboys pulled off a play at the last minute that won the game 20-19.)


Rose, Craig, Khai, and I finally headed out around 8 (after Dad loaded a cooler Rose picked up at WaWa with tons of fresh seafood he or other local boats caught). Once again, we had a relatively uneventful trip. This time, Craig stopped at WaWa for a drink. We hit a little traffic about a half-hour from home, and Khai got a little fussy, but he once again slept most of the way. Here's hoping my American readers had an equally tasty Thanksgiving with a lot to be thankful for! :)