Thanksgiving With the Family

Began the morning with the Thanksgiving material in the Colliers Harvest of Holidays anthology. The long piece for Thanksgiving is a story about a Pilgrim grandmother relating her memories of the first Thanksgiving to her family. There's also several hymns and poems, including "Over the River and Through the Woods."

The original book version of Molly's Pilgrim is pretty close to the half-hour special that debuted in 1985. The biggest difference is it's likely set in what I suspect to be the early 1900's. Elizabeth, the girl who bullies Molly, has long black ringlets rather than straight blonde hair, they go a little more into Molly and her family being Jewish, and Molly doesn't get extra help for English after school. It's still a sweet and charming story, though, a reminder that "pilgrims" continue to search for religious freedom even today.

There's a short story in the Disney Storybookland anthology called "Pilgrim's Party." Mickey takes Minnie, Donald, and Pluto to Plymouth, Massachusetts for a real old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner. It's all fun and Pilgrim cosplay, until Pluto steals the turkey!

Changed and had breakfast while watching the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Parade. They've gone through a couple of different sponsors through the years. The current sponsors are ABC and Dunkin' Donuts, the latter of whom had an extremely pink donut float in the parade. The only balloon I saw in the air was Clifford the Big Red Dog. There was a modern Netflix Strawberry Shortcake, but I think she had deflated by the time they showed her on the broadcast, because she seemed to be laying down. I saw an Acme float, too, appropriately based around a cornucopia bursting with harvest produce. 

Thank heavens this was broadcast for free on WPVI 6's website. The Macy's Parade is the exclusive domain of Peacock online, but it was more fun to see what Philly did for Thanksgiving anyway. A huge tap group did an enormous number with dozens of kids all tapping together. We had songs from the stage Beauty and the Beast and Here's Love (under the title Meredith Wilson's Miracle On 34th Street: The Musical). The Four Tops, Jordan Sparks, and a group called Cameo performed their hits. There were marching bands from as far away as Indiana. Unlike Macy's parade, which ends with the arrival of Santa, the Philly parade ended with a huge number that included the tap dancers, the All-American Cheerleaders, Santa, and piles of confetti.

Called Mom while the parade was on. We weren't able to chat for very long. She was making pies for my brother's Thanksgiving dinner. Keefe insisted on making the rest of the dinner, including the turkey (though his wife Julia was apparently in charge of the sweet potatoes). There had been a few problems when Elijah came out, but he's as healthy as any darling baby ever born now.

Switched to two delightful Thanksgiving specials from the 1980's after the parade ended. I go further into the charming Paul Fusco puppet show A Thanksgiving Tale at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Thanksgiving Short Subject Special - A Thanksgiving Tale

The 1985 Molly's Pilgrim won an Oscar for Best Live-Action Short Subject that year...and richly deserved it. The story is now reset in the mid-80's. Molly is a young Jewish girl from Russia whose family came to a small Midwestern town in search of religious freedom. Molly is still bullied by children who envy her gymnastics abilities and don't understand her accent or her Borscht lunches. She's upset and feels out of place, especially after her mother makes a clothes pin Pilgrim that looks more like a traditional Russian peasant than the usual Pilgrim. Molly's teacher finally explains to the class that Molly's mother is right - pilgrims still exist today, and they come to America for the same reason the ones at Plymouth Rock did. As her classmate Arthur said, it does take all kinds of pilgrims to make a Thanksgiving.

Since I had food to carry and I wasn't sure how late I was going to be at Rose's, I walked to her house. It was a gorgeous day for it. Yesterday's off-and-on clouds had given way to a beautiful, sunny, if chilly afternoon. It was in the 40's, cold, but really more in line with what it should be during late November.

I was greeted at the door by Rose's two dogs Cider and Oreo barking their hellos. Jessa had already arrived (in fact, she texted me earlier to ask which house was Rose's) as the Green Bay Packers-Detroit Lions game began. It was just Rose, Craig, 8-year-old Finley, 15-year-old Khai, and Jessa this year. Craig's mother apparently went up to New England to visit his brother. 

Jessa played Dinosaur Bingo with Finley and Khai while Craig and I watched the game and we all had appetizers from three huge trays. One tray had sliced vegetables and dip. One had sweet goodies - donut holes, my pumpkin bread, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, pomegranates (Finley ate most of those - she apparently loves them), Danish butter cookies. There were also bowls of chips and pretzels and a yummy shrimp cocktail.

(Oh, and the Packers did very well against the Lions, who are no slouches themselves. The Packers would run and get a touchdown, then the Lions would get one. In the end, the Packers finally outran them 31-24.)

It was well into the Kansas City Chiefs-Dallas Cowboys game before dinner was ready. Rose apparently forgot to put the turkey in early! Jessa left before dinner, but the rest of us sat down to turkey, ham, green beans with bacon and crispy onions, mashed potatoes. cubed orange and purple sweet potatoes, canned cranberry sauce, tossed salad, and rolls. Oh, yum! The two meats looked like they belonged on the cover of a food magazine or the main page of a food website. The turkey was so juicy, I saw Rose cleaning up turkey juice she'd spilled (with the help of the dogs). Even the white meat was moist and tender. The ham was almost as good.

(The Chiefs-Cowboys game didn't go nearly as well. Their game was also close and well-played, but the Cowboys just managed to push ahead at the end 31-28.)

While Khai disappeared into his "office" (a tiny storage area where he plays computer games) and Craig and Rose prepared dinner, Finley and I played something called Zingo. You get a board containing small words, like what, the, she, if, and or (along with the numbers two and three). Someone pushes a lever that makes two yellow chips with words on them slide out of a slot. You have to grab the word before the other person does to fill your card. I did win a few games, but not only was Finley faster, I was tired and couldn't really focus on where the words were.

It wasn't until almost 7 when Rose and Craig brought the sweets tray back out, along with pumpkin pie, apple pie, vanilla ice cream, and home-made whipped cream. Finley and I both went for pumpkin pie with whipped cream. (In fact, I think Finley mainly had whipped cream. There might have been pumpkin somewhere under the enormous mounds of white fluff on her plate.) Khai insisted that he wasn't a fan of pies, so he had a root beer float instead. 

Finley and Craig brought drove me and a huge bag of leftovers home around 8. I went straight online and into the annual Match Game Productions Thanksgiving marathon. This year's theme was "personal favorite episodes of the channel's owner." The marathon started much earlier, but I did get to see two classic syndicated episodes that were also personal favorites of mine. 

In a 1979 syndicated episode, Joyce Bulifant wears a crazy red fright wig that made her look like a demented Little Orphan Annie to keep from being mistaken for the other blonde on the show that week, Elaine Joyce. A later contestant was almost as weird, giving a very strange answer to what a jock centipede bought along with 100 pairs of shoes. 

Betty White turned up in a much later syndicated episode from 1981 wearing a short, flaming red and gold dress made by a friend of Sharon Farrell's. Sharon was no slouch either in her pink pants outfit. She and Richard Paul inadvertently demonstrated mud wrestling when she landed on him during McLean Stevenson's answer for what form of "wrassling" should be an Olympic event. Later on, a contestant's laugh that he supposedly used to wake up in the morning was so terrifying, it sent McLean hurrying for Gene's entrance doors.

At any rate, enjoy your own feast of favorites with this bountiful showcase!

Match Game Thanksgiving 2025 Countdown Marathon

Thanksgiving Is for Family

Began a rainy morning with breakfast and Thanksgiving stories from Colliers Harvest of Holidays. They only have one long piece for Thanksgiving, but it's a pilgrim grandmother's charming recollection of what the first Thanksgiving was like. There's also several poems and the song "Over the River and Through the Woods." 

Since there wasn't much, I tossed in a few more short stories and children's stories. Molly's Pilgrim is the original version of the book that would become a lovely Oscar-winning short subject in 1985. Here, the story is set in what I presume to be the early 1900's, and it makes more references to Molly and her family being Jewish. The sweet ending with the teacher explaining why "it takes all kinds of pilgrims to make a Thanksgiving" remains the same, though. 

Disney's Storybookland anthology features the 40's short story "Pilgrim's Party." Mickey takes Minnie, Donald, and Pluto east to visit New England and the Plymouth Plantation to join a group reenacting the first Thanksgiving in costume. It's all fun and Pilgrim cosplay, until Pluto steals the turkey! I also did a very funny retelling of "Babes In Toyland" from Fantasyland that was closer to the original movie than the one in Storybookland. 

Mom called as I was getting dressed. Keefe's wife Julia's side of the family tends to bring drama wherever they go, so they opted to have some of Keefe's friends from the Navy over instead. They did get to see the Macy's parade. Mom said Aurora adores Minnie Mouse and was as over-the-moon about seeing her balloon in the Macy's parade as her father was about the Pikachu balloon in 2001. 

Since the Macy's Parade is the exclusive domain of Peacock online, I put the Philly parade on ABC's website instead. I did see a few balloons, a toy soldier and Brainy Smurf. For some reason, they really got into disco and vintage rap in this parade. Chic, the Funky Bunch, and a Motown group all danced in the parade. I saw a float designed to look underwater, another themed around Philadelphia landmarks like the LOVE sign, and a train. The Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders really got into their routine. We had performances from the Neil Diamond bio musical A Beautiful Noise and Elf: The Musical. Everyone was in high spirits despite the continuing downpour, and it all seemed to go off without a hitch.

After the parade, I did things in my rooms and made the bed while watching Alice's Restaurant. I go further into this meandering 1969 retelling of Arlo Guthrie's epic folk song at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Happy Thanksgiving! - Alice's Restaurant

Thankfully, the rain had long subsided by quarter of 2, though it remained cold and damp. I quickly stopped at the kiosk in front of the former library to drop off a book, then rode my bike over to Rose's house. I was greeted by a noisy Oreo and Cider, who wanted to see what was going on and greet the new arrival. It took a few minutes to shoo them back in and put my things down!

Rose's husband Craig was watching the Lions-Bears game when I arrived. I spent the next hour and a half or so watching the game and playing with Rose's 7-year-old daughter Finley. Craig's parents arrived about a half hour after I did, walking with canes and sounding raspy. Apparently, they both just had surgery. Needless to stay, they stayed at the table the whole time.

Rose did put out quite a lunch spread. There was shrimp cocktail, a vegetable tray with cucumbers, celery sticks, and mushrooms, a crackers and cheese tray with a cranberry log, sausage sticks, and pepperoni, and a fruit tray with pineapple, blueberries, apple slices, and pomegranate seeds. I ate lots of almost everything but the apples, which I have plenty of at home. 

(Oh, and the Lions were up 16 - 0 when I got in. The Bears did make a huge comeback, but they missed a long throw at the end that cost them the game. The Lions just squeaked by them 23-20 in game that was much better than I thought it would be.)

Rose made an absolutely gorgeous turkey this year. Craig's mother and I both said it should have been on the cover of Gourmet Magazine. I'd never seen a turkey more perfectly brown and seasoned. Tasted pretty good, too. Along with the turkey, we had stuffing, mashed potatoes. sweet potatoes with brown sugar, green beans with bacon, white and pumpernickel rolls, cranberry sauce, and roasted Parmesan butternut squash. Everything was good, but I think my favorite thing was the squash. I didn't know squash could taste so good when so cheesy.

Joined Finley to watch the new Netflix movie Spellbound (which I'll go further into on Saturday) while Rose and Craig set out the desserts. Rose always makes a splendid apple pie, and there were tiny cherry tartlets and cheesecake along with my apple cider pound cake, but I only had eyes for Craig's pumpkin pie. Besides, it was all I could fit in after that big dinner! The pies could be topped with ice cream, but I don't think they're right without real whipped cream.

Headed home after I ate and Rose handed me a big pan of leftovers. After I got in, I spent the rest of the night watching the Best of Match Game PM countdown marathon. There's so many good nighttime episodes, the marathon began at 2 PM! The Admiral Color TV episode wasn't the first time Richard made a bet with Gene on the Audience Match and came up a winner. He did something similar when Gene didn't believe his "Cuts" would be up with "Burns __." There was also the time Richard and Charles wore big hats and claimed to be "Your Basic Big Picture Hat Society," or the time Charles gave his toupee to a balding but personable young man, or when two hapless contestants only made it to the Audience Match because Charles matched them each once, and then matched one again during a tiebreaker. 

Enjoy a feast of nighttime fun with some of the best Match Game episodes ever shown after dark!

Feast of Favorites - Match Game PM Countdown of Greatness

And I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving matching with all the people you love!

Beautiful Thanksgiving

Began my holiday with readings from the Colliers Harvest of Holidays anthology. We get a short story with a pilgrim grandmother telling stories of her youth, along with several poems and "Over the River and Through the Woods." The Disney anthology book Storybookland from the early 60's has "Pilgrim's Party." Mickey and the gang head to Massachusetts for a real old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner. It's all fun and historical cosplay, until Pluto steals the turkey! 

I also read the original book version of Molly's Pilgrim. This one is set in the early 20th century, from the outfits and Molly's mother referring to Cossacks and how they could never return to Russia. There's more references to how Molly looks different from the other girls, and Elizabeth is brunette, rather than a snobbish blonde. In other ways, the short is actually a very accurate adaptation, especially in the second half when Molly learns about Thanksgiving at school.

Watched A Looney Tunes Thanksgiving on Amazon while eating breakfast. Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet has Bugs teaching a European-accented girl bunny how to lose weight in time for the big dinner, then helping her figure out the cause of her hunger via clips from shorts. In Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special, Daffy tries to land something bigger than a Thanksgiving special by showing sequences from his cartoons. 

Very disappointing. Thanksgiving Diet has a slightly stronger relationship to the holiday than Thanks-for-Giving, which is just clips from Daffy's shorts, but neither of them really have all that much to do with Thanksgiving. This is especially annoying since the Tunes did make at least one Thanksgiving short, "Tom Turk and Daffy." Only for the most ardent fans of the Toons or those looking for a way to keep Toons-loving kids occupied before the big dinner.

Headed out to work before the cartoon ended. Work was just as busy as yesterday, maybe even more. The carts were empty when I arrived again. I was shocked. I figured most people would have bought everything they needed for Thanksgiving well before this. Once again, the parking lot was a mess. Good thing there was another guy helping me, and then a third towards the end of my shift.

At least the weather behaved this time. It behaved so well, I took the long way home. It was very sunny and breezy, with a soft blue sky overhead, probably in the mid-50's. Surprisingly, considering what the Acme looked like, it wasn't that busy. Not even around the entrance to Audubon Crossings. I admired radiant scarlet and gold trees and the last of the roses in gardens as I rode into Oaklyn.

When I got home, I changed, finished Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special, and went back out again. After working three days in a row pushing carts, I wasn't up to the Uber trip to the Empire Diner. I discovered Mulligan's Bar and Grill on the White Horse Pike was open, so I ended up there.

And I'm sure glad I did. Their Thanksgiving dinner was incredible. The meal came with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, caramelized sweet potatoes, garlic green beans, and your choice of salad or soup (I opted for the salad.) Yum. Everything was as real as could be. No boxed mixes here! The only thing that likely came from a box or can was the tiny cup of jellied cranberry sauce. I even liked the buttery gravy, and I'm not usually a fan of gravy. There was even a slice of pumpkin pie the size of a small life raft. And the young waitress was a real doll, too. I left her a big tip.  

I ended up sitting by the window across from the bar, with a perfect view of the Lions-Packers game. The Packers were killing the Lions when I was there, 28-14. Apparently, they caught up after I left, but not enough to win the game. Packers won 28-22.

Since it's two blocks from Mulligan's, I stopped at WaWa next for a treat. Had their Peppermint Mocha Smoothie. Yum. Too sweet, but lots of chocolate and peppermint flavor. It was busy, but I was able to use self-checkout.

Went home after that. Spent the next few hours watching (and almost falling asleep over) Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. All Neil Page (Steve Martin) wants to do is get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Trouble is, every single vehicle he boards breaks down, is caught in a snowstorm, or doesn't get him far enough. If that wasn't enough, he keeps running into show curtain ring salesman Del Griffith (John Candy). Del is the nicest guy in the world, but he's also a chatty and occasionally annoying mass of bad habits. Neil spends most of the trip ready to throw him half-way to Chicago...until he realizes why Del is on the road, and how important it is to be thankful for our loved ones and having a home to get to.

Classic comedy from John Hughes remains a funny and fairly realistic look at holiday travel nightmares over 30 years later, even when it takes a left turn into forced sentimentality towards the end. John Candy and Steve Martin later called it one of their favorite films and their best performances, and I have to concur. Bad language and sexual references make this for teens on up who have been through a lot of what happens to these two guys, are fans of the stars, or are looking for something to watch after dinner on Thanksgiving Day.

Worked on writing for a while after the movie ended. The gentle hunchback brings Cora her favorite book as a wedding gift. Cora admits that she finds the hunchback sweet and kind despite his wretched appearance and wonders why he allows Stephen to bully him.

Put A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving next. Charlie Brown has his own holiday troubles when Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcie, and Franklin over for Thanksgiving dinner. Chuck is going to be over his grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. He, Linus, and Snoopy make a dinner of toast, jelly beans, popcorn, sundaes, and pretzels to appease them. Peppermint Patty is furious, until Marcie and Linus remind her and Chuck about the real reason for the holiday.

The real reason for the holiday is also the subject of The Mayflower Voyagers. Here, the Peanuts kids, Snoopy, and Woodstock play pilgrim children and animals on their way to the New World. They endure a terrible trip and harsh weather when they arrive, with many of their parents dying on arrival. After the friendly natives Squanto and Massasoit help them plant crops, they share the bounty and invite them over for a feast of thanksgiving.

Tried something I hadn't done in ages after the Peanuts ended. I made cranberry sauce. The sliver of jellied cranberry sauce I had at Mulligan's was the only part of that meal I wasn't crazy about. I missed my real, home-made sauce. I think I put in too much water and too little sugar, but it still came out edible and nicely tart.

Watched The Thanksgiving Treasure during and after making the sauce. Addie Mills (Lisa Lucas) first discovers the horse of her dreams while riding her bike on the outskirts of her Nebraska town in November 1947. She's smitten, but it turns out the horse belongs to cranky Walter Rehinquist (Barnard Hughes). Her father James Mills (Jason Robards) has a long-standing feud with him, dating back to when he wouldn't pay him for building a pond. Addie tries to make friends by bringing him a Thanksgiving dinner taken from bits of her own meal with her uncle and aunt. Rehinquist calls her bossy at first, but he eventually lets her ride Treasure and comes to enjoy her visits. She's deeply upset when he gets sick, but her grandma (Mildred Natwick) reminds her that we need to be thankful for what we did share with our loved ones.

Second of four Addie holiday movies is the sweet and sad story of a horse-crazy girl who makes a friend not only with a horse, but with her lonely owner. Hughes in particular is wonderful as the cantankerous Rehnquist, who can tell wonderful stories when he gets going. Highly recommended holiday viewing, especially for families with girls Addie's age.

Did The Berenstein Bears Meet Bigpaw next. I go further into the tale of how a Thanksgiving legend in Bear Country doesn't turn out to be as scary as it seems at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Thanksgiving Short Subject Special - The Berenstein Bears Meet Bigpaw

Finished the night with possibly the most unusual Thanksgiving sitcom episode in existence. The swashbuckler spoof Jack of All Trades somehow shoehorned a Thanksgiving episode into their second season. Diminutive Napoleon is building a familiar statue carrying a torch, which he intends to give to the Americans. Jack convinces Emilia to hold a Thanksgiving dinner for him and Governor Croquey to figure out what they're up to. When it turns out to be more sinister than expected, Jack says "One, Two, Three, Give Me Lady Liberty" when he turns to another Thanksgiving tradition to keep them occupied - football!

And I hope you had a wonderfully weird Thanksgiving of your own, no matter what you ate or whom you celebrated it with!

Thanksgiving In the City

Began my Thanksgiving with a ringing phone around 8 AM. Did I want to come see the Philly parade with my stepsister Jessa? I hadn't planned on it, but...well, why not? Beat sitting at home in front of the Macy's parade. I quickly got dressed, grabbed breakfast, and hurried out to her car waiting for me on the curb. 

We picked up the PATCO train into Philly at Collingswood. Surprisingly, we didn't have a hard time getting a seat either way. The train was half-full, but not stuffed. We got off at 8th and Market and wandered around in the tunnels a little bit before making our way up to Market Street. 

Jessa led me down a delightfully quiet Market Street to City Hall. The last thing I expected to see in the center of Philadelphia's seat of government was a gorgeous two-decker merry go round surrounded by little huts festooned with greenery and lights. I completely forgot about their Christmas Village, a German-themed collection of small booths and eateries selling holiday goodies. 

We passed by these for the time being, making our way to 16th and JFK Boulevard across from Suburban Station. Huge crowds three and four rows deep gathered around the curb as cymbols crashed and marching bands twirled flags and played "Jingle Bells." The Thomas the Tank Engine balloon floated by as we arrived, to the delight of train-loving kids in the audience.

To tell the truth, we got in so late, we only saw the last 20 minutes or so. I still had a lot of fun, though. A really nifty pirate boat float and a neon showboat with kids waving pom poms passed us by. We saw giant ornaments and a huge Smurfette balloon. Santa arrived last in his giant sleigh, proceeded by one of the local marching bands glittering in black and gold.

We doubled back through Love and Willhem Parks to explore the Christmas Village further. Every booth featured knitted scarves and hats, glittering delicate glass or rustic hand-made ornaments, Philadelphia souvenirs, or wooden toys and games. The scene of smoked sausage and the tang of sauerkraut and good German beer filled the air as people gathered around the famous LOVE sculpture. We looked around, but didn't buy anything. I picked up a hot chocolate to wake me up at a busy Dunkin' Donuts on Market Street instead.

Jessa drove me home after we got back in. She and her husband Joe were going to have Thanksgiving dinner at an aunt's house. Oh, and she's doing just fine. She's taken up running and is looking quite fit. She managed to move faster than me in the city! 

Got home around 11 AM. That left me plenty of time to watch the last hour of the Macy's parade. My favorite balloon was the adorable green Sinclair Oil dinosaur and her darling baby clinging happily to her back. I also liked sweet yellow Baby Shark, and one that I'd seen around but never checked out, book character Ada Twist, Scientist. No clue what Ryan's World or the Red Titan is, either. 

Switched to Match Game '75 while making my bed and putting on the warmer flannel sheets. Game show legends Bob Barker and Arlene Francis join in to see contestant Carol Bartos become the Match Game all-time champ at that point. The others throw in their own help with "Heat __" on the Audience Match.

At 12:30, I went to Paramount Plus to watch the Bills-Lions game while changing into nicer pants. Considering the Bills are one of the best teams in the NFL and the Lions are only so-so, the game was much better than I expected. One team would run down and score a touchdown, only for the other team to take it in the other direction. The Bills had just started to pull ahead when I called Uber to take me to Brooklawn. (The Bills eventually won 28-25.)

To my surprise, I got an Uber driver in less than a minute; they arrived in three. There was actually quite a bit of traffic around as he drove across Camden County to Brooklawn and Gloucester City, especially on the highways. I guess a lot of people wanted to go home for Thanksgiving this year.

I, on the other hand, went out to eat at the Empire Diner. The glittering chrome and neon building sits on a traffic circle hugging the borders of Brooklawn and Gloucester. Unlike the more modern Colonial and Legacy Diners, the Empire went in for straight fifties, with laminated tables and chrome everywhere. They were surprisingly busy for a holiday. I did see some other people dining alone, mainly older folks, but it was mainly large family groups who crowded into booths.

My free turkey dinner came with cranberry stuffing and a choice of soup, salad bar, and vegetable sides. I went with the salad bar for more greens and a tuna macaroni salad, fried zucchini, and sweet potatoes. The gloppy gravy was probably from a bottle, but the turkey and stuffing were decent. I'd never had fried zucchini before. They were basically breaded zucchini slices, and they weren't bad. Drinks and desserts weren't included in the meal, but it isn't Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. Christmas songs played on the radio in the background. (Among them, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." It's not really the Christmas season until you hear Bing on the radio.)

It took me much longer to get a ride home. The Empire Diner is lovely, but it's in the middle of nowhere. The only other things out there are a Shop-Rite down the road and a bowling alley, neither of which are on the same side of the traffic circle as the Diner. Took the driver more than 20 minutes to find the place, and then we had to turn around and go another way when a huge puddle flooded the pass under the train bridge nearby.

The weather was way too pleasant to go straight inside when I got back into Oaklyn. I opted for a walk to WaWa instead. It was absolutely perfect today. The sun was out, the sky was a sweet baby blue, and it was in the mid-50's, nowhere near as cold as it was last week. The wind had vanished, too. Treated myself to a tasty peppermint mocha smoothie at a busy WaWa. 

After I got home, I settled down to watch (and nearly passed out while watching) Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Ad executive Neal Page (Steve Martin) just wants to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving, but every vehicle he attempts to ride, from planes to trucks, fails to get him closer. He also keeps running into Del Griffith (John Candy), a shower curtain ring salesman and the nicest guy you'll ever meet, but also a chatty and annoying mass of bad habits. As the two men make their way to Chicago in any way they can get to, Neal begins to understand why Del is on the road...and why he has a real reason to be thankful.

Classic comedy remains one of the most hilarious of director John Hughes' career and features two of Candy and Martin's best performances, even when it takes a sharp left turn into forced sentimentality towards the end. 

Worked on writing for an hour or so next. Debralee settles down on the couch with her nutcracker while the others discuss the idea of the Nutcracker being a prince. Bill Daily is now the one who points out the differences between the nutcracker's story and the ballet. Gene insists it sounds more like the original ETA Hoffman story. 

Watched the Peanuts Thanksgiving specials while having a small soup dinner. Chuck has a real dilemma in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Peppermint Patty invited herself, Franklin, and Marcie over for dinner, but Chuck and Sally are going to their grandmother's house for dinner. Linus suggests they make a simpler meal of toast, pretzel sticks, ice cream, jelly beans, and popcorn to appease them. Peppermint Patty is furious, until Marcie and Linus remind their friends of the real reason for the holiday.

The real reason for the holiday also turns up in The Mayflower Voyagers, an episode of the mini-series This Is America, Charlie Brown. The Peanuts kids, Snoopy, and Woodstock are pilgrim children and pets going to the New World. While all of the children and animals did survive the journey and subsequent bad winter, their parents weren't so fortunate. Many were sick and dying when the Native chief Massasoit and his warrior Squanto offered aid to the settlers. After a bountiful harvest, they're so grateful to their new friends, they hold a feast of Thanksgiving in honor of their home and all they have to be grateful for. 

Finished the night on YouTube with two lesser-known Thanksgiving specials. I go further into these at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Thanksgiving Double Feature: The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't & Thanksgiving In the Land of Oz

And I hope you had an equally joyful and unique Thanksgiving with all the people you love! 

Giving Thanks for Family and Matches

Woke up at 7 AM and called the Acme to tell them I wasn't coming in. Besides the fact that I really am that tired, I refuse to work on Thanksgiving. It's one thing if you're a doctor or a nurse or police officer, and your job genuinely involves being on constant call, but this is a grocery store. I'm not sure why the Acme is even open. There's WaWas and drug stores if people need last minute milk or something. We're rarely busy from Thanksgiving Day through the middle of December. 

I was so worn out, I went back to sleep after I got off with them...and didn't wake up again until almost 10:30! Read a piece on the first Thanksgiving and a couple of Thanksgiving hymns and songs, including "Over the River and Through the Woods," from Colliers Harvest of Holidays, The Disney anthology Storybookland also features a Thanksgiving short story, "Pilgrim's Party." Mickey takes the gang north for a real old-fashioned New England Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock. It's all fun and Pilgrim cosplay, until Pluto steals the turkey!

Changed, grabbed breakfast, and went straight online after I wrote in my journal for the first YouTube game show marathon of the day. Sam Mitchell, who did that fun Halloween game show marathon, also put together one for Thanksgiving. No particular theme this time, just good episodes. I caught episodes of the tough word-find show Now You See It from 1974, part of Thom McKee's legendary run on Tic Tac Dough in 1980, and one of the Bill Cullen-hosted Joker's Wild episodes from 1986 before switching over to the all-Match Game '70s marathon. The guy who posts the vintage Match Game episodes on YouTube lost his beloved aunt last week and did an all PM episode marathon in her honor. Watched the first PM episode and fifth before Rose called and said Craig would be by to pick me up for dinner.

I came in around 1. Craig had the Bears-Lions game on as Finley played in the living room. Rose set out appetizers as I arrived. There was a plate with a cheeseball (Rose got Mom's famous recipe, the one she used on Thanksgiving in the 90's and 2000's) and crackers, another with shrimp cocktail, a third with grapes, cheese, and sausage, and a tray of vegetables. I enjoyed a little bit of everything but the really spicy sliced salamis. 

Craig's mom and dad arrived less than a half-hour later. By the time they came in, the Bears were just barely down in a tight game 14-13. They picked up a final field goal in the fourth quarter that eventually won them the game, 16-14. 

While Rose and Craig focused on dinner and cleaning up the snack trays, Mrs. Wurster read books to Finley. We all watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer together, which apparently is a favorite of Finley's. I go into more details on the original 1964 Rankin-Bass version of this beloved story and song at this Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog entry from 2018. 

After the special ended, Khai switched the TV to Disney Junior for his sister, and I ready Finley one of our favorite books from when we were little. The Bike Lesson is one of the earliest Bernstein Bears books. Brother Bear (here called Small Bear) wants to ride his new bike, but Papa insists that he can't until he teaches him how. Papa's idea of "teaching him how" mostly consists of Brother digging him out of scrapes and him showing the cub how NOT to ride a bike.

Rose finally declared dinner was ready around 4:30. What a feast! In addition to a huge turkey, we had mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, roasted asparagus, cornmeal stuffing and sausage stuffing from the restaurant where Craig works, ciabatta rolls from Shop Rite, and Khai's favorite canned cranberry sauce. Khai loves cranberry sauce so much, he started laying into three big slices before the rest of us sat down to eat! Needless to say, his parents scolded him for taking so much and not waiting.

Khai, Finley, and I watched Disney Junior shows while everyone else rested, chatted, and got dessert ready. Bless Fin's heart, she's a Muppet Babies fan too. It's a "Kitchen Catastrophe" when picky eater Sam the Eagle comes to Piggy's Diner for lunch. Piggy begs the Swedish Chef to make him a meal he can't refuse. The Chef won't even try Gonzo's pickle, pineapple, and sauerkraut sandwich, until Animal accidentally gives it to Sam. "Kermit Gets the Grumpies," and even the kids can't seem to get him to shake them. Bunsen and Beaker separate his grumpy side from his happy side, but then he keeps trying to avoid his grumpy half.

Mickey Mouse Funhouse is the newest show to feature the Disney gang. Minnie's upset when the toppings on her pizzas are all jumbled in delivery. She and the others go to ancient Greece to get more, only to find that the pizza maker is so harried, he needs to deliver his pies before he can make theirs. "Minnie's Big Delivery" takes the gang all over Athens, before Minnie realizes that pizzas -and people - don't need to be perfect. The gang meets "The Wanderin' Warbler" while in the Wild West. She's a singer with the habit of wandering off. When she vanishes on a day she's scheduled to sing in the local saloon, Mickey and Pluto go after her.

Fin still loves Bluey, and I'll admit, I've grown fond of the blue pup and her family, too. Bluey and her sister Bingo pretend to be old ladies on the "Bus" who wreck havoc trying to bring shy rider Chili and driver Bandit together. Chili and Bluey pretend Bluey is in "Mum School" while Chili shows her oldest daughter how to take care of one particular balloon that keeps wanting to fly away. 

Spidey and His Amazing Friends is another recent addition to Disney Junior. Here, "Spidey" is Peter Parker and his "Amazing Friends" include fellow Spider Kids Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, along with super-stretching Ms. Marvel Karmela Khan. He, Miles, and Gwen rescue a baby octopus whom a female Doc Ock grew to gigantic size and returned it to is parents in the first story. The second had Peter and Karmela rescuing Central Park from the Green Goblin's giggle gas that makes people laugh so hard, he can steal whatever he wants.

Rose announced dessert around 6:30. I always have a slice of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, in this case topped with Redi-Whip. Yum! Sweet and perfect. Rose said she tried a different crust recipe this year. Whatever she did worked just fine - it was tender and just flakey enough. Had a bunch of macarons Rose picked up at Shop Rite, too.

Mr. and Mrs. Wurster dropped me and a huge bag of leftovers off at home by 7. I spent the rest of the night returning to the Match Game PM marathon. By the time I came in, they were on the much-later episodes with syndicated casts. One show featuring Fred Travelena started off with some jokes about Confucius featuring several very bad accents and stereotype jokes that's likely the reason this episode is now banned from the air. Allen Ludden and Betty White had more luck in what eventually became their last TV appearance together before Allen's untimely death in 1981. Charles kindly gave a balding young man his toupee, one of the very few times he appeared on the show without it, even briefly.

Spend your holiday weekend playing vintage games with both these hilarious marathons!

Sam's Game Show Resort 2021 Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving Marathon - Match Game PM

Oh, and here's that review for Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Happy Thanksgiving! - Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving

I hope you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving with all the people you love to match with! 

Thanksgiving Matches

Awoke to a gloomy, dark morning. Was reading the book on Thanksgiving Linda Young gave me a couple of years ago when my cell phone rang. Rose wanted to know if I could come over around noon. They weren't eating until 4, but Finley in particular was really looking forward to my arrival. I told her 12:30. I wanted to finish my reading and have breakfast.

After I finished off the book, I did the material from Colliers Harvest of Holidays. They had a short story on the first Thanksgiving, as told by an old Puritan woman who was there, along with poetry and the familiar "Over the River and Through the Woods." "Pilgrims' Party" is a short story from the Disney anthology Storybook Land. Mickey and Minnie take the gang to a real old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner at Plymouth. It's all fun and Pilgrim cosplay, until Pluto steals the turkey!

Put on Planes, Trains, and Automobiles while eating the last of the apple crisp for breakfast and getting the bread organized. Neil Paige (Steve Martin) is an ad executive trying to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. When his plane is stranded in Wichita, he ends up getting the last hotel room in town with Del Griffith (John Candy). Del's the nicest guy you'll ever meet, but he's also an overly chatty mass of bad habits who drives Neil crazy at first. It's not until they've taken every type of transportation from planes to buses to cars to together that Neil finally understands why Del is on the road...and why he has a real reason to be thankful.

Despite the forced left turn into sentimentality towards the end, this is a generally enjoyable comedy about what we really have to be thankful for, with career-best performances by Candy and Martin. Adults looking for something to watch while they recover from dinner (or who would normally be doing their own major traveling before the holidays) will really enjoy this one. 

Strolled over to Rose's house even before the movie ended. The rain vanished as I finished off reading. By the time I was strolling down Manheim, the sun was out, the sky was blue, and it was in the 60's, a bit warm for Thanksgiving. I was fine in my jean jacket and a short-sleeved blouse. You'd never know it rained this morning if there weren't puddles all over the place.

Rose and Finley did greet me when I arrived. Craig already had the Lions-Texans game on. My nephew Khai was in and out, sometimes reading Garfield comics, sometimes attached to Roblox in his bedroom. Rose had a vegetable tray and Triscuits and Club crackers out and was working on a cheese tray when I got in. (Her sliced Parmesan was to die for.) 

Finley was excited to show off her bedroom. She sleeps on a white loft bed with a slide that allows her to get down quickly. I got to admire her dance costumes (she started taking dance classes last month) and her piles of stuffed animals big and small. When we went back to the living room, I read her "Donald Duck, Private Eye" from Storybook Land while Finley listened in her child-sized recliner. 

After Rose and Craig cleared the table, we moved on to another project. Rose bought a gingerbread house set from Walmart a few days ago. Instead of making one big house, we each had our own individual mini-house to decorate. Finley insisted on covering the A-frame with sprinkles and gumdrops (when she wasn't eating them!). Khai sprinkled red and green candy bits onto the roof of his Colonial House. My "Classic Cottage" had holly leaf sprinkle roof shingles, green spearmint leaves on the roof, gumdrop "lights" on the edges (that wouldn't stay on), and holly leaf sprinkle garlands around the windows and door.

Once our gingerbread masterpieces were safe in places where curious kitty paws couldn't reach, Craig, Finley, and I settled down to rest while watching Frozen on Disney Plus. Finley initially had a hard time sleeping while her brother played with noisy Duplos. Once he got bored and retreated to his room, she fell asleep...and so did her dad and Kelsey the Mini Pincher on his lap! I snuggled into the soft leather chair, read Storybook Land, and listened to "Let It Go" and "Love Is an Open Door." 

I go into further discussion on Frozen at this review from my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog in January 2019. 

Frozen 

Craig just started shaking Finley awake as Rose announced dinner was ready. Everything was so delicious! Craig carved a fragrant turkey breast, and Rose mixed mashed potatoes. Brussels sprouts with ham and green beans sautéed with crispy onions added crunch and earthy flavor alongside cranberry sauce and creamy macaroni and cheese. According to Rose, even the butter was fresh from a friend of hers who worked at a Whole Foods wholesaler and gave her a ton.

Finley, Khai, and I watched cartoons while Rose and Craig cleared the table and did the dishes. Khai loves The Adventures of Puss In Boots on Netflix. Apparently, Puss is here an adventurer who loves a pretty, sweet kitty named Dulcinea. She is "The One" who can stop a terrible creatures called The Bloodwolf from destroying her town. Puss and his Senor Puss Squad help her out with their own brand of magic. After he's defeated, in the next season, Puss swears he'll be Dulcinea's sidekick, but she just wants everything to return to normal. 

Bluey and her sister Bingo have their own fun with their parents. Bluey and Bingo put on the sad-eyed looks to convince Dad to play "Ticklecrabs" with them. When Dad and Mum tell the girls they're taking a vacation without them, they imagine having to "Escape" the girls coming after them in increasingly outlandish ways.

Rose called everyone for pies with real whipped cream after "Escape" ended. Finley just had pumpkin, but I tried the pumpkin and Rose's famous apple. They were sublime, with the pumpkin perfectly spicy and the apple delightfully tart. Craig settled for watching the Washington-Cowboys game after he had some trouble with Finley.

Rose drove me home carrying a bag filled with leftovers. I was surprised to note the driveway next to the main house was empty. She mentioned Jodie told her she would be staying over Jesse and Dana's house after their dinner. That gave me the chance to get the laundry done in the laundry room as soon as I got in. I need clean socks and work clothes, and I really don't want to wait until go to the laundromat to get them.

Finished out the night on YouTube with another Match Game marathon. This one revolved around episodes that are a favorite of the owner of the channel who restores the show that he considers to be overlooked. I came around in time for the 1978 episode where Bob Barker ogles Lori Anderson rather openly. My two favorite episodes by far of what I saw both came from the syndicated run. One had Joyce Bulifant in a wild curly red wig while Bill Daily searched for his answer and a contestant somehow managed to answer "An athletic caterpiller bought 100 sneakers and ___" with "accordion." The second started with Betty White showing off her still-trim legs in a short red dress and ended with Sharon Farrell and Richard Paul demonstrating mud wrestling.

Here's the full marathon, so you can enjoy these underrated gems for yourself! And come around at 2:30 tomorrow for even more hijinks in the marathon's second half!

Match Game Thanksgiving Marathon

I hope you all matched yourselves a wonderful Thanksgiving, no matter who you ate with or the size of your meal!

(Oh, and the Texans eventually gave the Lions a solid 41-25 thrashing, while Washington kicked the Cowboys' rears equally hard 41-16.)

To My Sister's House I Go

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I began mine with the Colliers Harvest of Holidays anthology. They feature a short story on the first Thanksgiving, as well as several poems and the old song "Over the River and Through the Woods."

The Disney anthology Storybookland has a short story set around Thanksgiving, "Pilgrim's Party." Mickey and the gang decide to do their Thanksgiving the old fashioned way and head into New England to have dinner with the pilgrims and Indians at Plymouth Rock. It's all fun and historical cosplay, until Pluto steals the turkey!

Kit Kitteredge isn't feeling too grateful in the last two chapters of Kit Learns a Lesson. It's the height of the Great Depression, and Kit is upset that they've taken in boarders that have invaded her home and worried that her father will have to leave town to find work. When she and her friends Ruthie and Sterling bring the food from their class charity drive to a soup kitchen, she makes a shocking discovery there...and learns how much she really has to be thankful for.

Had a quick breakfast while watching Garfield's Thanksgiving. Garfield's not too happy with his holiday celebration, either. Liz the Veterinarian put him on a strict diet, right before John invited her for Thanksgiving dinner. Jon has never cooked a turkey dinner in his life, and his mind is really more on romance anyway. Good thing Grandma Arbuckle from the Christmas special comes around to make things right.

Watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on YouTube for the next few hours. A lot of folks were worried that the high winds today would discourage them from using the balloons, but they did eventually let them fly. They just kept them low to the ground. My favorites of the new balloons I hadn't seen before were the adorable Green Eggs and Ham one with Sam I Am and his buddy driving the ham and Astronaut Snoopy, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in his bright colored space suit.

Worked on writing for an hour after the parade ended. Donald is happily watching his date eat every bit of seafood at the booth, in their shells, when the others arrive. Gene tells her that they know she's the Princess Patti and that the queen is after her. What they don't know is how she ended up on land. Patti reveals the reflection in a rain barrel to tell them what happened...

Headed out for Rose's house around 12:30, with the two loaves of bread and the box with the remaining Kimberly-Clark items I wanted to give her. At least it was a nice day for a stroll. While it was just as windy here as in New York, it was also mostly sunny and warmer than you might think, probably in the lower 50's. (Definitely better than the lower 30 degree temperatures we had at Thanksgiving last year.)

Rose's small house was full when I arrived. Mom, my brother Keefe, and his new wife Julia had arrived from Cape May County earlier this morning; Keefe and Julia drove up to Mom's house in the Villas from Virginia a few days ago. Evidently, Keefe and Julia decided it would be easier to not go through all the hassle and cost of a big wedding and got married in front of a justice of the peace a few months ago. (No one around here tells me anything.)

There was a huge spread out in the dining room. Everyone gathered around plates of cheese and Triscuits and Vegetable Thins, a vegetable tray with home-made ranch dressing, a home-made cheese ball, and pumpkin butter and blackberry jam. Khai mostly hung out on the bunk beds in his room, watched cartoons, and avoided us. Kelsey the Miniature Pincher tried to snitch food, while Lynx the striped cat wound through ankles and his sister Toothless the black cat kept out of sight as much as she could.

Two-year old Finley woke up as the first football game of the day between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears was on its second half. It was a real nail-biter of a game, too. Both teams played very well, but the Bears finally managed to push ahead in the end, 24-20.

Craig decided Finley needed to let off steam, so he, Keefe and I took her out into the backyard. She showed me her big blue sandbox and her brother's hula hoop. Craig and Keefe discussed where they want to put the new fence that will replace the ragged wooden one that currently sits on the property.

After the game, Rose switched on a show called Bubble Guppies for Finley to keep her occupied and away from the food. Bubble Guppies revolves around six mer-kids and their mer-puppy who discuss either discuss a top relevant to toddlers, like fire fighters or dentists, or do a spoof of adventures or pulp fiction. The first one we saw was a fairy tale that had two of the mer-kids figure out how to gather the ingredients to restore their Bubble-Puppy after a witch turns him into a frog.

Finley found the contents of my purse to be more interesting. I showed her my wallet, coupon holder, cell phone, and my "lucky piece," but she really liked my note pad that I mainly use to write down story ideas when I'm in a restaurant or have to wait somewhere. I let her scribble her own "story ideas" on several of the blank pages.

We finally ate dinner around 4. It was an absolute feast. The turkey was huge, juicy, and so, so flavorful! Along with favorites like sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, and rolls, Rose made brown sugar baby carrots and replaced the gunky green bean casserole with sauteed green beans with fried onions and bacon bits. Oh, yum! She really outdid herself. I loved it all, especially the sweet potatoes and green beans.

Mom, Julia, and Keefe joined Finley and I for Bubble Guppies after dinner. They weren't terribly amused. As cute as the show is, it never addresses the problem that many of the activities shown - like fighting fires and chasing dragons - simply can't be done under the water and aren't logical. I say they were over analyzing things a bit. It's just a show for young kids. They can learn what's real and what isn't. I ignored them and showed Finley a Match Game marathon on my cell phone.

Everyone was more than a little worn out by the time dessert was on the table. Mom is still getting the hang of her smaller stove and burnt the crust on her pumpkin pie...but the filling was just as tasty. Rose bought apple and cherry tarts and Italian cookies from Desserts By Design in Audubon. I enjoyed the pie and apple tart with real, home-made whipped cream.

Finley went into the shower after we finished eating, allowing the rest of us to switch to the last quarter of the Bills-Cowboys game. The Bills were already kicking their rears when we came in, 26-7. The Cowboys managed to get a touchdown and a two-point conversion shortly after we started watching, but it wasn't enough. They ultimately lost 26-15.

Craig and Keefe drove me home. Rose deemed the old microwave cart in the basement too grimy to be saved, but she was able to give me a book shelf and a computer chair. The chair is sort of rickety and I may not keep it, but the shelf is perfect for my bedroom and will work just fine. I'll put the books in it tomorrow. She also gave me a huge bag of leftovers to take home.

Finished the night with Meet Me In St. Louis. I go further into this classic tale of the year in a life of a family preparing for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Meet Me In St. Louis

We Gather Together

Kicked off a sunny, windy Thanksgiving morning with some holiday reading. The Harvest of Holidays anthology has a story on the first Thanksgiving, plus two holiday poems and "Over the River and Through the Woods."

The Disney anthology Storybookland features a short tale called "Pilgrim's Party." They Disney gang head to New England to celebrate Thanksgiving the old-fashioned way with the pilgrims and Indians at Plymouth. It's all fun and pilgrim cosplay...until Pluto steals the turkey! "Johnny Appleseed" is a retelling of the American folk tale of the young man who went west to plant apple trees, and how he made friends animal and human along the way.

Kit Kitteredge is having a less pleasant Thanksgiving in the last two chapters of Kit Learns a Lesson. Kit and her best friends Ruthie and Sterling are charged with taking the food from their class charity drive to a soup kitchen. Kit gets a nasty surprise there when she gives out food...and learns what it means to be truly thankful.

Spent most of the morning watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, including during breakfast. The CBS broadcast was streaming on YouTube. I missed the Broadway performances, but I did get to see all kinds of nifty balloons. My favorite by far was the utterly adorable Pikachu holding a snow-Pokemon! Other cool balloons included Goku from the much-loved Dragon Ball anime franchise (they had a hard time controlling him in the wind), the Grinch and Max the dog, Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid (my nephew Skylar would have loved that one - he used to read the books), the Pillsbury Dough Boy, the Trolls, and the too-cute small cloud and rainbow.

(I did try to watch the NBC broadcast, but it turns out that you need cable to stream their live feed. And ABC was only running a "fan cam" online of the Philadelphia parade.)

Called Mom while the parade was running. I wanted to catch her before my sisters arrived. She was just about to vacuum. She told me "Happy Thanksgiving!" and that she would miss me and Keefe, who couldn't make it from Virginia, either. They were eating much earlier than usual, around 2. Rose and Craig wanted to get home before dark.

Squeezed some writing in during the parade. Sheev Palpatine Marley is quick to praise Anakin...and even quicker to point out that Yoda and Mace Windu keep insisting that he's not ready to be a full partner yet. Marley will make him a partner in his new firm, if he does what he's told. Anakin's not sure he wants to change jobs...until Padme tells him he's going to be a father very soon.

Switched to cartoons while having a quick Banana-Cranberry Smoothie and gingerbread for lunch. Garfield's Thanksgiving isn't going much better than Kit's. Not only does Liz the Veterinarian put him on a diet the day before the holiday, but Jon invites her over for dinner! Trouble is, he's never cooked a turkey in his life. Good thing Grandma Arbuckle from the Christmas special knows what to do.

Ran into trouble while making the Cranberry Bread. The plug on the food processor had gotten so corroded, I couldn't use it anymore. I tried to chop the berries in the blender, but they got caught on the blade and it wouldn't chop all of them. I had to chop half by hand and made a mess.

Did the Peanuts specials while dealing with the bread. It's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving when Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcie, and Franklin over for the big dinner. Problem is, Chuck is going over to his grandmother's house for dinner. He, Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock make a meal of toast, ice cream, jelly beans, and pretzels to appease them. Peppermint Patty is angry, until Linus and Marcie remind their friends of the real reason for the holiday.

Charles Schultz went further into the real reason for the holiday in "The Mayflower Voyagers," an episode of the miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown. The Peanuts and Snoopy and Woodstock play Pilgrim children and pets on their way to the New World. Even once they make it off the Mayflower, they face a terrible winter with little food and many people dying. Friendly Indians, including English-speaking Squanto and Massasoit, help them survive. They hold a great feast of Thanksgiving in honor of a bountiful harvest and their new friends.

Moved on to Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving after the bread was in the oven. This is another anthology, this time of three stories with mild seasonal themes. The first one has everyone dressing Piglet as a groundhog to find out if it's spring yet. The second story is the Thanksgiving special. Rabbit insists on having everyone gather ingredients for a "traditional" holiday. When his party goes wrong, it's Pooh who reminds them that they still have many things to be thankful for. Rabbit is also a big part of the third story. He adopts a baby bird named Kessie, but has a hard time letting her go south for the winter.

Did something I haven't done in a long time while Pooh was on. I took photos of my dolls, arranging them to look like they were doing Thanksgiving activities. Samantha "read" Cranberry Thanksgiving to my stuffed Max and Ruby. Rey and Luke had a Thanksgiving Day lightsaber tournament, while Poe and Finn cheered them on. Han decides to teach Felicity, Whitney, and Josefina how to play football the Corellian way, but falls over. Leia's the one who really shows them how to play.

Ran Molly's Pilgrim while the bread cooled. In this Oscar-winning live-action short from 1985, Molly is a little Russian Jewish girl who is having a hard time adapting to her new life in the US. Her clothes are old-fashioned, she's still learning English, her lunch is borscht rather than peanut butter and jelly, and she's much better at gymnastics than the other kids. Most of the girls in the class make fun of her. When she asks her mother to help her make a pilgrim for a class project, she makes one who looks like them, rather than the traditional Puritan. The kids are puzzled, until their teacher explains that Molly's family came to the US for religious freedom, which makes them pilgrims, too.

Put on two quick Disney shorts while I wrapped up the bread and got ready to go. Mickey is "The Grocery Boy" who brings Minnie her fixings for a big meal. Once again, Pluto snatches the turkey, leading the two mice to chase after him and their dinner. Mickey and Pluto's relationship is also at the heart of "Mickey's Good Deed." A poor Mickey during the Great Depression gives up the one thing that means the most to him to help  family that has even less than he does.

(Incidentally, while the bread came out brown and fell apart when I pulled it out, it at least looked like it was edible.)

Headed out to Dad and Jodie's around quarter of 4. It was such a nice day, I decided to walk there. Though it was bitterly cold, no more than the lower 30's, the wind had diminished somewhat since the morning, and it remained sunny and bright. The cold temperatures kept most people indoors, though I did see two guys chatting on a porch. Jesse, Jodie's younger son, saw me walking and ended up driving me the remaining two blocks.

I was the first one there. By the time we ate at 5:30, the house was packed. I didn't know most of the people there. It was mostly relatives of Dana's or Jodie's. The only people I knew (besides Jesse, Dana, Dad, and Jodie) were Jodie's Aunt Colleen, Vanessa, Jodie's parents, Jessa, Joe, and someone's girlfriend who used to work at the Acme and remembered seeing me around. There were so many people, we needed four tables set up in the den to hold them all. Dana and Jesse had been apparently tasked with setting the tables earlier. They used fancy white and pale blue tablecloths. Jesse even folded the napkins into fans.

I'd never seen so much food! The appetizers alone included mango brie, Irish cheddar, pepperoni, pepper jack cheese, Ritz and Triscuit crackers, garlic hummus, port wine cheese, olives, and extremely spicy pickles. When we all finally sat down, we passed around turkey, collard greens, asparagus with bacon, spoon bread, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, rolls (that got burnt), and cole slaw. In addition to my cranberry bread, dessert included date-nut bread, super-soft sandwich cookies, chocolate chip cookies, stewed apples, pound cake, and pumpkin and apple pies.

Football played in the background for most of the night. The Redskins tried hard, but they just couldn't out-run the Cowgirls. In the end, Dallas beat them 31-23. (The Lions didn't do much better against the Chicago Bears earlier in the day, losing 23-16.)

Jessa and Joe drove Vanessa and me home. I put on the How to Train Your Dragon holiday special Gift of the Night Fury while getting organized. The Viking citizens of Berk are preparing to celebrate their big winter holiday Snoggletog when all their dragons fly off without warning. While Hiccup tries to figure out where they went to, Astrid and the other kids create new traditions to make their holidays merrier.

Finished the night with By the Light of the Silvery Moon while online. The sequel to On Moonlight Bay has a prominent Thanksgiving sequence, which is why I wanted to review the series this week. I discuss it further at my Musical Dreams Reviews blog:

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

And here's hoping that all of you had an equally merry and full Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving With the Family

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.

To Mom and Dad's House We Go

I got an early start, so I could get everything packed and ready before Rose arrived. Finished out the book on Thanksgiving history Linda Young gave me last year, then did the Thanksgiving material in Colliers. They had an essay on the First Thanksgiving, lyrics to the song "Over the River and Through the Woods", and a couple of Thanksgiving hymns and poems.

Found a short story in the early 60's Storybookland anthology collection that was Thanksgiving-themed, "Pilgrim's Party." Mickey takes the Disney gang to the real Plymouth to enjoy a recreated Pilgrims and Indians holiday feast. It's all fun and pilgrim cosplay...until Pluto steals the turkey!

Kit Kitteredge is facing a tough Thanksgiving in the last two chapters of Kit Learns a Lesson. Her parents are in dire financial straights. thanks to the Great Depression. They've been taking in boarders to make ends meet, but Kit's tired of the endless chores and feeling like people are invading her home. She's sure that her father will find a job soon. When she and her friends Ruthie and Stirling takes the basket from their school's food drive to a soup kitchen, Kit's shocked to see someone familiar in the bread line...and learns a lesson about being grateful for those around her.

Ran cartoons while I ate breakfast and got organized. It's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving when Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcie, and Franklin over for dinner. Trouble is, Chuck's going over to his grandmother's for dinner. Peppermint Patty's upset by the simple meal of toast, ice cream, jelly beans, and pretzels she's offered, until Linus and Marcie remind their friends of the real reason for the holiday.

The Mayflower Voyagers also deals with the history behind the holiday. In fact, some of the same things discussed in Mouse and the Mayflower are also touched on here, including the beam in the Mayflower that cracked in a storm and nearly caused the travelers to turn back. The Peanuts gang play pilgrim kids and the ship's dog and hen, who find themselves dealing with the hardship of a harsh winter and losing family in the New World. When local Indians come out of hiding and agree to help, it's a true miracle...and a real reason to give thanks.

Garfield's Thanksgiving isn't as heartfelt at first. Garfield's livid when Liz the Veterinarian puts him on a diet the day before the holiday, then Jon invites her for dinner. Which would be nice if Jon had any idea of how to cook a turkey, or if his mind was on the food rather than romance. Good thing Grandma from the Christmas special is around to make things right.

Did two quick Mickey Mouse black-and-white shorts while waiting for Rose. He's "The Grocery Boy" who delivers food for Minnie's big meal, and even helps her cook. Once again, Pluto's desire for turkey causes all sorts of problems. "Mickey's Good Deed" takes us back to the bleak Depression years. Mickey and Pluto are playing music on the street for pennies. When Mickey tries to help a mother with a passel of kittens who won't be getting presents, he gives up what means the most to him to get the money. His own Christmas seems bare...until he gets a nice surprise in the end.

Rose and her family picked me up around 10:30. We had no problems getting down to Erma whatsoever. The roads were clear. It rained a little while we were on the interstate, but by the time we were in Dennisville in southern Cape May County, it was just cloudy and damp. Khai spent the entire hour and a half playing Mario games on his Nintendo DS and cuddling his two-foot stuffed deer. I read Shadows of the Empire and talked to his parents about Thanksgivings and holidays when we were younger.

We arrived around noon. Everyone else was already there. The kids are getting so darn big! One and a half year old Lilah can walk just fine now. Her big thing is dinosaurs. She was thrilled with the realistic plastic toy dinosaurs Khai brought with him. Skylar spent most of the early afternoon watching Paw Patrol on Nick Jr. and Spongebob Square Pants on Nickelodeon. He's 12, almost a teenager, as he reminded everyone several times.

Collyn is 7, the closest to Khai's age. They were inseparable all day. We were in and out all afternoon. When we were indoors, we'd play with all the toys in the playroom/laundry room and eat the big appetizer spread Mom had out for lunch. There was a vegetable tray, a yummy cheese ball covered in breadcrumbs, fancy crackers, fresh crab meat with cocktail sauce for dipping, and Mom's home-made ranch dip.

When we were outside, the boys mostly rode scooters or bikes. Anny's boyfriend Jay went back to their house at one point to get Skylar's bike. (It's an older bike they found for 20 dollars at a yard sale, but it seems to have cleaned up really well. Sky had no problems doing wheelies on it, anyway.)

At one point, the boys got so rambunctious, Jay and I took them for a walk/scooter ride/bike ride around the neighborhood. All the boys' yelling attracted a bit of attention. They watched one little boy ride a motor bike. Another, younger boy in his pajamas ran outside and watched all of us stroll, ride, and push by.

At least it was a nice day for it. By the time we were on our walk, the sun had come out. The morning chill had become warm late-fall sunshine. It was really lovely, though thankfully not quite as warm as last Thanksgiving, probably into the mid-50's. The last of the bright red and gold fall leaves seemed to glow in sunlight. A few folks in their neighborhood already had up holiday decorations. Most settled for round orange pumpkins or leaf-strewn banners.

When we returned, Jay went inside to talk to Anny. I opted to stay out and keep an eye on the boys. Skylar and Collyn ran races with two kids about Skylar's age, Geo and Nicholas. While the boys raced on foot and on scooters, I pulled Khai down Mom and Dad's dead-end street in their red metal Radio Flyer wagon.

(Talk about memories. I've been doing that with various siblings since I was old enough to move the wagon on my own. I used to pull Anny in her metal Radio Flyer wagon in the late 80's. Keefe had a wooden variation in the early 90's that he loved, then a thick plastic one. When he was really little, I used to take him to the movies in that wagon.)

After Skylar went back inside, Collyn, Khai, and I went in the backyard. The boys grabbed colorful plastic water guns and pretended to shoot zombies. I figured "why not play along?", grabbed a gun, and told them I was Princess Leia. I had a great time chasing the boys around the yard and in one of Mom and Dad's sheds, but whew, did they wear me out! I'm not used to running around with two energetic kids for several hours.

We finally had dinner around quarter of 4. Dinner was Mom's usual wonderful feast. Along with turkey (that came out just fine this year), there were pearl onions in white sauce, carrots in honey glaze, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, and a new cornbread sausage stuffing recipe Mom wanted to try. Oh yummm. I had everything but the mashed potatoes (I'm not the biggest fan of white potatoes), and it was all amazing. I might have to e-mail Mom for the sausage stuffing recipe.

(The only person who wasn't happy was Skylar. He was very upset that he wasn't allowed to sit at the adults' table. He argued with his mother about it before and after the meal.)

I went back out with Collyn and Khai after dinner. We continued with the zombie apocalypse at first. As it began to get dark, we switched to tag, then to hide and seek. Lilah even joined us at one point. The boys loved that. Despite the small size of Mom and Dad's backyard, there's all kids of places small children can wedge themselves into. Collyn in particular was having so much fun, he wasn't happy when we had to drag him inside. The desserts were out, it was too dark for me to find the kids anymore, and sometime between dinner and our zombie battle, it had clouded over again and was starting to shower.

Mom makes the best pumpkin pie ever. Collyn and I both swarmed towards that as soon as we got in. She had real whipped cream for it, too. I was too full from dinner and lunch to have more than a slice of that, one of Anny's "turkey legs" (Rice Krispies Treats shaped like turkey legs, with white chocolate-covered pretzels and marshmallows as the bone), and a couple of Mom's famous chocolate chip cookie bars. Too bad, because there were lots of other great choices. Rose brought a French apple pie and cheesecake. A neighbor gave Mom pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing. There was ice cream sundaes for the kids, too.

After dessert, Rose and Anny went up to the malls to do some early shopping. Everyone else settled down by the TV to play with Matchbox cars and watch TV. We ran Mythbusters and the very end of Back to the Future Part III until Skylar got bored and went into the playroom. Dad switched to football after that. He'd had the Vikings-Lions game on earlier, but it wasn't terribly exciting. (The Lions just barely won, 16-13.) We saw the second half of the Cowboys-Redskins game. It was a heck of a lot more interesting. Every time the Cowboys got a touchdown, the Redskins would answer with another one. In the end, the Redskins just got outplayed. The Cowboys won, 31-26.

Jay finally ended up taking the kids home. (Anny and Rose didn't arrive until much later.) I went upstairs as they were leaving. Spent the rest of the night looking at old family photos and all the great old kids' books Mom has in her office.

And sorry I wasn't able to get this up last night. Mom and Dad have a limited Verizon internet plan, and apparently most of their minutes tend to go to cell phone usage on the Internet. I wasn't able to get on. At any rate, I hope all of you had a safe, happy, and full Thanksgiving with all the people you love.

Plenty to Be Thankful For

It was another beautiful, sunny day when I got up this morning. Started off the day with some Thanksgiving and Christmas short stories and poems. In addition to the material from the Collier's Book of Holidays, I found two more stories and book excerpts. Pilgrim's Party is a short story from the early 60's Disney anthology Storybookland. Mickey takes the Disney characters on a road trip to New England, and then to Massachusetts, where they decide to celebrate the holiday at the recreated pilgrim's settlement at Plymouth. It's all fun and food, until Pluto steals the turkey! In the last two chapters of Kit Learns a Lesson, Kit Kitteredge isn't feeling very grateful for the boarders her parents have taken in to make ends meet during the Great Depression. She feels like a maid and is sure her dad will find work soon. It takes a surprising encounter at a soup kitchen to show her how important it is to be thankful for those around us.

Rose called while I was getting dressed. Mind if we switched to being picked up between 10 and 10:30? They had to drop Toby, their larger dog, off at Dad and Jodie's. That was fine. It would give me a chance to have breakfast and get organized.

I ate the last of the Carrot-Pineapple Muffins and a half a grapefruit, then finished packing while watching Thanksgiving specials. It's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving when Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcie, and Franklin over to Chuck's house for dinner. Trouble is, he's eating at his grandma's house. She doesn't appreciate the meal of toast, jelly beans, ice cream, and popcorn, until Marcie and Linus remind their friends that Thanksgiving is about a lot more than food.

The Mayflower Voyagers reminds us just what this holiday is about. In this episode of the miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown, the Peanuts play pilgrim kids who come over to the New World with their parents to start over. The voyage to what we now know as New England is fraught with peril, including storms and crowded and miserable conditions. Things aren't much better at Plymouth, where starvation and disease plague the settlement. It isn't until the natives Squanto and Massasoit teach the settlers how to plant corn and hunt and fish that their lives begin to improve. They're so thankful for their bountiful harvest, they invite the Natives for a feast of Thanksgiving.

Garfield isn't feeling all that thankful in Garfield's Thanksgiving. Jon just invited Liz the Veterinarian over for Thanksgiving dinner...right after she's put him on a diet! It doesn't help that Jon can't cook a turkey to save his life. Good thing Grandma from the Christmas special knows how to make things right.

After Garfield ended, I listened to my lovely LP of mountain folk songs and old American songs while fixing one of my pairs of work pants. I just got them not long ago - I don't have the money to replace them. The very bottom of the seat split at the seam. I'd just finished sewing it as best I could (I'm terrible at sewing, but I can figure out enough to fix a seam) when Rose called, saying she'd be there in two minutes. I took my things and went downstairs...then came back upstairs briefly. Mom said to bring a pillow, and I forgot.

I went up with my 5-year-old nephew Khai, my sister Rose, her boyfriend Craig, and their mini-pincher Kelsey. Rose and Khai got up at 5 AM today to make her apple pie, and Khai was a very tired boy. He rested for most of the trip. We did make a stop at WaWa for drinks. I got Cherry Limeaide Sparkling Ice and a soft pretzel. Khai got Cheetos. Rose bought Monster Energy drinks for her and Craig. We admired the view of the lovely South Jersey countryside, including a horse farm. (Craig kept telling Khai to watch out for Bigfoot, despite Rose and I admonishing them that there's no such creature.)

We got in around quarter after 12. Everyone else was already there, including Mom and Dad, my sister Anny, her boyfriend Jay, her sons Collyn (7 next month) and Skylar (11) and their baby girl Lilah (10 months) and my brother Keefe and his new girlfriend Carmen. I spent most of the next few hours that I wasn't scarfing the vegetable and ranch dip tray and home-made cheese ball and crackers watching over the boys. They rode a bike and a scooter for a while, speeding up and down the dead-end street Mom and Dad live on, riding around houses where no one lived. When they got bored with that, I took them in the back to toss around a Nerf football, then a Frisbee. (And kept trying to get Skylar off the porch. I was afraid someone would break a window or Mom's beloved wind chimes.)

We went inside for a while to rest, eat appetizers, and watch TV. The Eagles-Lions game wasn't going very well. They did play a little better later, but they were mostly terrible. (The Eagles ultimately lost 45-14.) We had more fun with strange cartoons like Gravity Falls (Dipper is put on trial for arguing that reality is better than fantasy), Teen Titans Go! (video game spoof), and Phineas and Ferb (first Doofensmirtz helps Perry the Playpus' secret agent organization take down a tiny little scientist bent on destroying them, then Candace puts herself on a Groundhog Day loop when her last day of summer vacation keeps going badly and she can't bust her brothers).

We ran into some problems when we went back outside. Khai and Collyn both wanted to ride the scooter, but Khai's an only child who isn't really used to sharing his toys. They both got into a rather noisy argument on a neighbor's driveway across the street. Dad finally settled it by borrowing two older scooters from his next-door neighbor John. I also got a chance to chat with John and with another neighbor of my parents' a few doors down.

The boys and I were watching cartoons again when dinner was finally ready. Mom spent the afternoon fussing that the turkey was too small and greasy and bent out of shape. I usually eat the dark meat anyway and I don't like gravy, so yeah, it was a little dry, but not that bad. In addition to the poor turkey, there was mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top, potato rolls with butter, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, glazed carrots, pearl onions in white sauce, and home-made stuffing. I had a little of everything but the mashed potatoes. I'm not a big fan of white potatoes.

We all sort of broke up after dinner. Craig took Khai on a brief trip to the Canyon Club condos on the Wildwood Crest side of the Cape May Bridge to see his parents and brother. Rose and Anny were crazy enough to elbow their way through early Black Friday shoppers and pick up two things for their kids at Walmart. Carmen talked to relatives on her phone on the porch. Dad and Keefe stayed attached to the Cowboys-Panthers game. (The Panthers not only won 33-14, they knocked out Tony Romo again, too.)

I had an intimate conversation with Skylar. We walked up and down Willow Drive. When we got back to Mom and Dad's house, Skylar sat on the bed of Dad's white truck, and we watched the stars come out. He's such a smart kid. We talked about our siblings, our parents, our families, cartoons, and the things we both like.

Mom was starting to pull out the desserts when we came in. Skylar immediately swarmed towards Mom's chocolate cake. I went for the pumpkin pie and Reddi-Whip topping. I love pumpkin pie. It isn't Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. I had a couple of chocolate chip bars and a small slice of chocolate cake, but I just couldn't fit in Rose's apple pie. I'll have that tomorrow.

Played with little miss Lilah after dinner. She's absolutely adorable. I brought my stuffed turkey Plymouth downstairs to show her. She was absolutely fascinated by him. She sat in Jay's lap and kept patting and pulling at Plymouth, probably wondering what this strange, colorful thing was. She has big, round blue eyes like her mom's when she was tiny and fluffy, wavy brown hair. She's still learning to walk on her own, though her mom says she doesn't have a lot of confidence. She'll walk a few steps, then fall down. Jay and Anny's mostly been holding her hands.

Skylar, Khai, and I finished the night with our desserts and more cartoons. Even as we watched the very odd Wander Over Yonder (a strange little creature wants to make friends with everyone it meets - even an evil galactic overlord), Khai was falling asleep over his vanilla ice cream. Rose got him into his new Batman pajamas. He finally passed out on the couch in the living room, shortly before Anny took her crew home.

I'm taking a respite of my own while the remaining family members continue to eat and chat downstairs. I hope all of you had a beautiful Thanksgiving with your own families (including the Canadians, who had their turkey last month). Everyone else, I hope you enjoyed the last days of fall.

It's the Holiday Season

After I finished my blog entry last night, I went downstairs and had a nice, long talk with Mom. She and I were the only ones still awake at that point. Dad was snoring in front of the Seahawks-49ers game; the rest of the family went to bed. I wish I could have come down and visited with her in September, like I did last year, but everyone on the Cape May side of the family was busy. I'm lucky I got to see her now. She's still at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, which runs limited day hours during the winter, but she did get Thanksgiving weekend off.

I went to bed around 12:30 and got up around 7. By the time I made it downstairs, everyone else was already there. Mom had sliced the Cranberry-Apple Bread and Pumpkin Bread, and there was leftover apple pie as well. I knew I should have left the Cranberry-Apple Bread in the oven longer. It wasn't quite cooked all the way through. Oh well, they still ate it. The Pumpkin came out perfectly, though. Between Keefe and me (and Anny later), most of that vanished pretty quickly.

Khai and I played with Duplos and Hot Wheels while watching Little Bear on Nick. Jr and letting the parents finish their coffee and tea. Some of the miniature cars and trucks in the boys' collection date back as far as 30 years. I saw a couple that belonged to Rose in the 80s, and quite a few that were Keefe's in the 90s and early 2000s. Khai was delighted by the unusual vehicles, especially the large trucks made to look like real Pepsi or Oreo trucks and the helicopters with propellers that really spun.

Anny arrived with her brood at 9:30. Craig, Keefe, and I were trying to show Khai how to play the XBox video game LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. We were supposed to be letting Mr. Fantastic (of the Fantastic Four) and Captain America chase Dr. Octopus through the Fantastic Four's headquarters and over to a hotel, but Khai wasn't having much luck. He's still a bit young to really get how to work the controls. Craig helped him while I took the Captain. We let Collyn and Skylar take over as we got ready to head home.

We finally left around quarter of 11. Once again, other than some very mild traffic around Deptford (probably because of the Black Friday sales at the Mall), there were no problems on the road. Khai and I played with his iPad briefly before we both passed out somewhere around Tuckahoe. I got up as we were turning onto the ramp into Mt. Ephram, but Khai was still out when we arrived at my apartment.

When I got in, I put everything away, then called Dad. He said he'd be able to corral Jodie's sons to deliver the furniture from her house today. He said to give him an hour - the boys and Jodie were still working on clearing things out at her house. I took down the Thanksgiving and general fall decorations, then took everything off the baker's rack and moved it outside to make room for the new hutch and dry sink.

I finally got bored waiting for Dad and walked over to his house around quarter of 2 to see if I could help. They were still waiting for Jodie's son T.J and a friend of his to arrive. They finally did a few minutes later. The boys loaded the hutch, bench, and dry sink into T.J's truck. Dad already had the computer chair in his van. We had a harder time unscrewing the CD player from the kitchen shelf it was under than getting anything outside. Dad couldn't find the drill at his house, so we had to do it by hand, and it took a while.

Jodie also gave me a small porcelain doll that was among the many knick-knacks she kept in her room. She's probably about 6 or 8 inches and is very sweet, with long golden curls and a pink lace dress and matching hat and shoes. Her head is really loose - I'll see if I can make her a scarf to help keep her head on. Her delicate pastel ensemble suggests spring, so I'll make her the Easter equivalent of Holly, my 6-inch Christmas porcelain doll.

After they helped me get everything upstairs, I grabbed my backpack and money and headed out. I really needed to eat and get a grocery trip in. I locked my bike at the Acme and just walked to Arby's. It was past 3:30 by then. Needless to say, they were quiet except for one older man and a mom and her two unruly boys. I ate my Philly Steak sandwich, Curly Fries, and Peach Brisk Tea quickly and quietly.

The Acme was also very quiet when I arrived. It's the day after Thanksgiving. This is the last day anyone wants to be thinking about food! I didn't need a lot, either. I was mainly there for skim milk, baking soda, and bananas. I also picked up one grapefruit, cranberries, chicken soup, canned apricots, two tins of fancy holiday tea for Christmas presents, and three DVDs. Two of those DVDs, Barbie In A Christmas Carol and the second Max & Ruby Halloween/fall themed set, Perfect Pumpkin, were for me. The third was another Christmas present, this one for Amanda. And of course, my Christmas tree would be needing candy canes on Monday.

Speaking of Monday, I have Monday and Tuesday off next week. Monday was a request - my friend Amanda is visiting from Vineland. Other than an unusually early day on Sunday, the rest of the week is all afternoon and evening work, perfectly normal for this time of year.

I spent the rest of the evening cleaning and organizing my new items. I quickly discovered that the hutch was fine where the baker's rack was, but the dry sink was too heavy and wide to work in the TV area. It did, however, very much resemble the dark antique dresser Rose gave me when I moved in. I use it for keeping various odds and ends like batteries, tools, and tacks. I removed two of the four heavy crates I was using for records and pushed the dresser over the remaining two. The dry sink went where the dresser was. The CD player and record player went on top of the dresser. My cookbooks all went in the hutch. Everything that was on top of the dresser went on top of the dry sink. The silverware and knives went in the dry sink's drawer. The rock and pop albums went in the large space on the bottom of the dry sink. The jazz, vocal, and nostalgia albums went in the crates under the dresser. The now-empty crates went in the TV area, one to be used as a coffee table, the other to hold books on media and media history. My crocheting books and bag of current projects went in the coffee table crate. The bench went in my bedroom and is now the home of my Disney Animator's Collection Toddlers Dolls, freeing up a shelf on the bookshelf where the Sailor Moon dolls are.

The only thing that didn't work out was the CD player. Jodie claimed it was still in good shape, but it just wouldn't work for me. It would start playing the first song, then get stuck and refuse to finish. It wouldn't fast-forward to the next song, either. I did move the old Emerson CD/cassette player to the TV area to replace the 30-year-old GE cassette player/radio I was using there. The radio still works on that, but the cassette player died at least five years ago. The cassette player and radio are fine on the Emerson, but the CD player skips. I'll just look into a new CD player for Christmas.

I first ran Barbie In A Christmas Carol while I moved furniture around. Barbie's second holiday tale adapts one of literature's most famous Christmas stories. Barbie tells her little sister Kelly the story of Eden Starling, a singing star who is the toast of Victorian London...but is also a spoiled diva who thinks nothing of keeping her supporting performers and her best friend at the theater for Christmas Day. A trio of (female) ghosts take her out on Christmas Eve to remind her of the importance of charity and goodwill.

Moved to another unusual version of A Christmas Carol while finishing the dusting and having a quick dinner of Thanksgiving leftovers and an apple. The Muppet's Christmas Carol came out in 1992, two years after the death of Jim Henson. The tumult hardly shows. This is one of the Muppets' best films, with an engaging score and a pitch-perfect performance by Michael Caine as Scrooge. Kermit is Bob Cratchit, Piggy is his outspoken wife, Fozzie is Fezziwig, Gonzo is the narrator, Kermit's nephew Robin is Tiny Tim, and Rizzo the Rat is mostly around for the food. Fans of the Muppets probably already have it in their collection; highly recommended for families and musical fans as well.