Halloween, THANKSGIVING and Then, Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving! 

(You know, that pesky little holiday that hangs out between Halloween and Christmas-somebody tell the retail stores, 'cause I think they forgot about it.)

This is it for this week,
I am going to take Thanksgiving (Thursday) off and just hang out with my family and a big dead bird.
Okay?
Good.
I think that’s fair.

I am actually cooking this year.

Wait, that is a lie. Kroger is cooking and I am “heating up” but hey, I will be heating up a big fat turkey in my oven. For a woman who has been known to use the rack in her oven as a place to dry flowers, THIS.IS.A.VERY.LARGE.DEAL.  (Wish me well, even this concept is a little daunting-seriously, where am I gonna put the left-overs???)

I have progressed from dead flowers to dead birds, this is a major advancement in the world, as we know it. Quick, you might want to buy stocks (or sell them) or something before this hits the newspapers (sorry, my age was showing again) the internet  Maybe, not. But you never know how the butterfly effect can change things. You were warned, I’m just sayin.’


Speaking of my age, I remember Thanksgivings when, really, everything was closed (you‘d just pray you could find a gas station that was open in case you HAD to go somewhere,) when you’d just about die of boredom as a kid, when you had turkey lunch at the kids’ table and then sat around and twiddled your thumbs at one another. My sister, my cousin and I turned this into a poker marathon one year. I still get tickled thinking about the three of us little girls in our green visors, our pretzel stick cigarettes hanging out of our mouths (you let them hang there until they got soggy and then you‘d eat them and steal another one from your neighbor's "money pot" to “smoke,”) and our cache of pretzel-stick-chips, arguing about whether or not Jokers were wild.

“I’ll see your 5 pretzel sticks and…”

Arbitrary Thanksgiving Tidbits:

Best Thanksgiving: Several years ago when I was in Dallas, Texas at the spa  (no, of course it wasn't really the spa! But I swear people thought that - for 6 weeks, I got stabbed every 15 minutes with needles and people secretly thought that I was AT THE SPA!)  at the Environmental Health Center-Dallas, we discovered this great sushi bar, the Blue Note. It was small and I could breathe inside (a BIG deal in those days) and very yummy. While in Dallas, we just kept returning to that place -  it was my “I actually, finally, feel like going out, but where?” place. K-Man (anyone else see the cartoon caveman dude and hear him yelling the words “Captain Caveman!!!!” when they read “K-Man?” No? Okay, well it must just be me) and I spent Thanksgiving there that year all by ourselves and it was awesome. I was finally feeling better, there was absolutely no stress at all and the hope for better days was just about palpable. Plus, they had this version of a Tiramisu that was to die for.

Worst Thanksgiving: The one right after my grandmother died. All around that table were volcanoes of emotion, all in various degrees of eruption, but there nonetheless. I drew a picture of what it felt like…it’s around here somewhere…let me find it…can't find it…yeah, I didn't want to see it, either.

Thanksgiving Memory Most Likely to Make Me Giggle: The pizza year. My ex-husband (after this story, you might not wonder why he’s an ex. hahaha ) and I had friends who had the excellent idea of switching out Thanksgivings.

“I’ll cook this year, you cook next year.”

Stupid, I am not. So, I was honest with her,

“That sounds great but really, So & So, I DO NOT cook. You’re going to go to all this trouble and then next year I’ll just order pizza. I’m serious, I’ll just order pizza.”  

Apparently, she didn’t believe me. She went to all the Thanksgiving meal trouble on her year and then kept reminding me all year that the next year was my turn.
I KEPT saying,

“So & So, I’m ordering pizza.”

When my year finally got there, what did I do?
<Shoulders scrunch up, “What?”>
I ordered pizza. (DUH!) I ordered it a day ahead of time to be sure that I could find a pizza joint that was open and then, right before they got there, I heated it up. (I don’t remember if I had to remove flowers from the oven or not and, apparently, “heating up“ is not an issue for me.) Her kids were tons happy. She was not amused. Really, I didn’t mean to piss her off. Try making small talk after that, over your pineapples and anchovies. ;p

This year, I am thankful for:

• A husband who thinks making cappuccinos for me on Saturday mornings is FUN.

• The fact that I have three children who are, more or less, OUT.OF.DIAPERS.

• A hobby that I love and am passionate about. I used to watch other people ride really well and dream about being “able to do that,” this year I surpassed that. Wow. (Sunday, I hooked my horse trailer to my truck, loaded Horse, drove him to another barn, unloaded him, tacked him up, rode him all over the cross-country course in an Eventing Clinic,only said a few dirty words as he LEAPED over the jumps, loaded him back up, took him back to his barn, BACKED my horse trailer into it’s spot between the trees and unhooked the trailer, by myself. I haven’t attempted making coffee at the same time, yet, but I’m thinking about it. Hahaha See September’s post, "WIS, That Was Fun!" for why this is a big deal.)
• Our own personal comedy duo of  “Smudge and dB." (Don't be fooled, I just heard a big crash from the living room and the other little "bundle of joy," is so overcome with love for me that he is BITING the inside of my upper arm as I type this. They better, both, say a prayer at Thanksgiving that their tiny furry butts make it until New Year's. hahahaha) Explanation to be found in November's post, "Hmmmm, It Won't Come Off."
• Red wine and dark chocolate.
• A smile that comes easy to my face.
• And, hope. That’s the clincher, you can deal with just about anything if you’ve got that bad boy in your corner. Hope rocks.

Happy Thanksgiving to you! 

Good luck “heating up."