Started off a sunny Thanksgiving with the last few chapters of the non-fiction book on Thanksgiving history Linda Young gave me a few years ago. My Colliers Harvest of Holidays anthology has an essay on the first Thanksgiving and some poetry, including the entire lyrics to "Over the River and Through the Woods." Also did the last chapter in a half of Kit Learns a Lesson (the only American Girl book to date to be set at Thanksgiving) and a short story from the Disney anthology collection Storybookland, "Pilgrim's Party."
Went right into Garfield's Thanksgiving as I finished my packing. Garfield is looking forward to the biggest feast of the year...until Liz the Veterinarian puts him a diet the day before the holiday. Jon invites her over for dinner, but he's not the world's best cook at normal times and has never done a turkey in his life. Good thing Grandma from the Christmas special knows what to do.
Moved onto A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving while eating Apple-Maple Muffins and oranges for breakfast. Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcie, and Franklin over for dinner at Charlie Brown's house. There is, however, a slight problem. Chuck and Sally are going over to their grandmother's for Thanksgiving. The duo, Snoopy, Woodstock, and Linus make a meal of popcorn, pretzels, toast, and jelly beans to appease them. Peppermint Patty is disappointed with the lack of turkey and trimmings, until Marcie and Linus reminds their friends of the real reason for the holiday.
Did The Mayflower Voyagers while getting my bag organized. In this episode of the miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown, the Peanuts gang play pilgrim kids and animals on their way to the New World. It covers a lot of the same ground as The Mouse on the Mayflower, but goes into even more detail (including going further into how horrible that first winter in Plymouth Harbor was).
I was just finishing the Peanuts and pulling on my boots when the phone rang. It was Rose. She was running late. They'd now be picking me up around 11.
It was really too nice to sit inside the whole hour. Since I already had my boots on, I grabbed my coat and went for a stroll in the park next-door. Thanksgiving hadn't been so beautiful in years. It was sunny and a little chilly, into the mid-40's. The winds remained, but they weren't anywhere near the gales that blasted through the area earlier in the week. Veterans Memorial Park was quiet and lovely. The trees are still awash in fall colors here, looking like a rainbow on the stark branches. Waved to Charlie and one of his men raking leaves as I went back in.
Went through my tote bags while listening to an LP of old mountain folk songs I reserve for quieter American history-based holidays. I was hoping I had one big enough to carry my pillows. (Mom and Dad only have so many.) The big bag I got at the Disney Store in Albany was perfect. Since I had so many bags, I put my bread into one of the stronger ones and gave it to Mom with the bread as a hostess gift.
Rose and her family and their miniature pincher Kelsey finally picked me up at quarter after 11. Five-month-old Finley is still getting over a bad cold. She started crying so hard somewhere around Vineland, Craig pulled us off the highway and went looking for a WaWa. After a half-hour of being lost, Rose managed to get her calmed down without feeding her, and we just went right back on Route 55. Otherwise, there were no problems. The traffic was non-existent going down to the Shore, and seven-year-old Khai was too occupied with trying to help his mother amuse his sister to be naughty.
We didn't pull in until past 1. By that point, everyone was there, watching the Westminster Dog Show. My sister Anny had arrived much earlier with her boyfriend Jay and their three kids. Mom had already put out the vegetable tray with home-made ranch dip and her tasty cheese ball with crackers (including a whole-wheat flatbread cracker that was really tasty).
Thirteen-year-old Skylar and eight-year-old Collyn went outside to play Laser Tag with Khai as soon as they got the boxes open. Two-and-a-half year old Lilah wasn't about to let her brothers have fun without her! Jay and I laughed and laughed as the quartet chased each other around Mom and Anny's cars, leaped over Mom's front yard garden, and hid in a truck across the street.
The kids were in and out for most of the rest of the day. They'd go outside and shoot each other and chase each other...and then the boys would complain they were too cold and come back inside to watch Teen Titans Go! and Kung Fu Panda 2 and play with toy cars in the living room and den. The older boys were also kind of upset that Mom wouldn't let them play in the backyard, but it rained hard a few days ago, and her yard was a muddy mess.
I was mostly either outside watching the kids run around, or inside watching football. The Vikings kicked the Lions' rears for most of the first half of the early game. Though they did play better in the second half, the Lions just couldn't get anything going and lost 30-23. The Cowboys played even worse with the Chargers than they did with the Eagles and got their rears handed to them 28-6.
We finally sat down for dinner around 4 PM (sans Collyn, who opted for dinner at his father's house in Wildwood). Mom had complained earlier that the turkey was too fatty, but the dark meat tasted fine to me. (I like dark meat. The white meat is too dry.) She also tried a tasty shredded broccoli-kale salad with dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds that she said she took for lunch at work a lot. I loved it! It was crunchy and earthy and just tangy enough. There was also glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, potato rolls with butter, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and green bean casserole. It was wonderful, as always. I had a little bit of everything but the mashed potatoes. I'm not a big fan of white potatoes. (And this year, I did volunteer to sit at the end of the table with Khai and Lilah and help make sure they ate their dinners....and so Skylar could finally sit with the adults.)
Skylar and Khai went upstairs to play checkers with their grandfather and play XBox games while Finley napped, Lilah played with toy cars in the living room, and their mothers and grandmother pulled out the desserts. I went back and forth between the groups until dessert was ready. Yum! Along with Mom's pumpkin pie (it's not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie), there was Rose's apple pie and a key lime pie she picked up from Desserts By Design, Mom's chocolate chip cookie bars, ice cream sundaes for the kids, and tasty peanut butter cup-filled cookies and fudge cup-filled brownies Anny made.
We did more round of Laser Tag with Skylar, Lilah, and Khai after dark. That may have been even more fun than it was at 2:30. The guns and the boxes you "shot" lit up like neon signs in Wildwood, making the kids glow and blink in the dark and looking really neat against Mom and Dad's dead-end street.
Anny and Jay left with their brood shortly after the kids came in. I chatted with Rose and Mom for a while as Rose got Finley to sleep (in her cute ruffled "My First Thanksgiving" pajamas) and we watched the first quarter of the Redskins-Giants game. Around 9, I headed upstairs to settle down and chat with Lauren on Skype on my mobile phone. (Incidentally, the Redskins would finally go on to beat the Giants 20-10.)
I hope all of you had an equally fun Thanksgiving! Sorry this is late. I haven't figured out how to do my blog on the phone yet.
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