Thinking about Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of those sadly overlooked holidays.

Take my neighbor, for example. She put her Hallowen decorations up - including a lighted, inflatable Jack-O-Lantern-Scare-Crow-on-a-Harley (fact) proudly standing guard on her front lawn. She is one of 'those' people; perhaps she didn't celebrate Halloween as a kid and is making up for it now, tenfold? When I was growing up, Halloween - erm, Reformation Day - was the one night annually that we, ignoring our usual alert and vigilant crime-detterance, intentionally left our porch lights off, shut ourselves into the living room and watched 'Martin Luther' (1953).

The day after Halloween is when many people traditionally turn to Thanksgiving: planning a menu and figuring out what side of the family you will grin and bear for the day, thinking of cinnamon rolls and coffee while watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade and that lovely feeling as you realize Christmas is just around the corner. No. Not my neighbor. November 1st, I come home from work (and it's dark around 6:15pm since Daylight Savings has kicked in): her house is aglow with flickering, colorful Christmas lights, her cactus draped in a white strand, her roofline twittering in full-color, her porch festooned in strands of snowflakes. She completely skipped Thanksgiving! Who does that?


When I was a kid, Thanksgiving was a good holiday in my house. No sadly-disappointed expectations of gifts (even when we get what we want, it's not quite as electrifying as imagined; I blame Hollywood!), no decorations to tear down and if it didn't snow, you really didn't care. The food is the centerpiece on Thanksgiving. Maybe this is partially to blame for my food addiction, even now. Mom's spread was over the top and more delicious than words can convey. Hers is the best Thanksgiving meal I have ever had. What is sad though is that I haven't had it in 6 years. I really miss it.

I really miss my mom's great cooking. Her turkey and homemade turkey gravy - lots of it (I hate going to people's houses and there is one boatful of gravy for like, 10 people. Doesn't each person get their own boatful of gravy? Btw, I love that boat and gravy are friends here...mmm). Her cornbread dressing with celery and sage and lots of garlic; her wild rice dressing with mushrooms, green bean casserole (after many years, she updated the delicious traditional green bean casserole with fresh beans and carmelized onions), sweet potato casserole, jello salad (not like any jello salad you have ever had so don't judge!), corn casserole and most years canned cranberries (apparently, the comparative qualities of canned vs homemade is a topic of debate). There is something magical though about a slice of gelatinous cranberry 'sauce' on a turkey sandwich with mayo the day after Thanksgiving. Homemade is lovely, but it just doesn't compare.


I miss the warm kitchen on Thanksgiving morning and knowing mom was up early, at least for a few minutes, to put the massive bird in the oven. I miss the din of the parade and then football in the TV room, our simple table and mom's French Countryside dishes (I love how the raised sides held in our huge platefuls of food - some plates are just too flat for Thanksgiving feasting!). My dad is a piemaking pro and he would always make his famous (yes, famous) Lemon Meringue and Coconut Cream Pies. They were divine. I remember in the old house we would put them in the laundry room on top of the drier, one in a vintage Tupperware pie carrier and the other covered in a lime green plastic bowl; it was cooler in there during the winter months and kept the pies but without being too cold in the fridge (you have to respect the meringue!). Dad's homemade crust and flour on the countertop, mom's Frugal Gourmet apron, our very old carving knive buzzing over the brown turkey (all of us vying for the crunchiest pieces of skin!), casserole dishes everywhere. Good times.

However bizarre my little family is, there will never ever be a Thanksgiving that will compare until I can eat my mom's Thanksgiving dinner again.


I'm thankful this year for my good husband, our new home, our health, and the small things.

The Weekend Update

This weekend had some great goings-on, but mostly has been epically chill. Kevin and I have stayed up entirely too late ("is it really 4:45am?!") and watched a few great DVD's, finished the final season of Monk (*sniff*), and enjoyed this beautiful weather - it's been in the 70's all weekend! In California, 70 feels perfect; here, it's cold (but that is far from a complaint).

Thursday night we went to a Stars game. Friday at work, I was unexpectedly offered 4 tickets and a parking pass for that night's basketball game - Dallas Mavs vs Memphis Grizzlies (I am so current on sports, I have never even heard of that team! ;) I wasn't sure I could put them to use with the late notice, but my boss (who is awesome, by the way) gave them to me anyway. I asked around and made some calls ... ultimately it was just Kevin and me at the game, and we had a great time.

The seats were awesome for sure and the game was great, though we lost by one point. I don't watch sports on TV; I am of the opinion the best way to enjoy sports is live and with great seats that I can't afford myself but will gladly accept as gifts. ;) I was sorry we couldn't share them with friends ... next time!

 

Mavs in action. (we were 5 rows from the court!)

Mavericks Dancers at halftime.

Got our picture taken for the fan page.

Rooting for the home team!

Saturday was a quiet day; cleaned up the house some, watched some more 'Six Feet Under' which we just recently started; I think Kevin got it since Michael C. Hall is in it, and we love 'Dexter'. It's a pretty good show, though some of the characters are really irritating. I suppose I have this feeling at the start of any new series or a movie: I have to take a little time to figure out if I like it depending on how the character(s) develops to know if I can relate to them and therefore stop being irritated by them. For example, the mom on 'Six Feet Under' is hugely obnoxious to me, but I think I'm starting to see that I can understand her vulnerability and the reasons why she has closed herself off to her feelings - and I can respect that she's starting to let them out again. Some people close up shop mentally and emotionally and never bother opening again and being themselves. You have to respect people who - even though they were dead before - try to live again and get in touch with themselves. You have to see that you are a certain thing in order to take action on that thing (or feeling or whatever). If you don't know that you don't know, you can't fix it. That's a pretty sad reality for humans. Enlightenment is the ultimate achievement but if you've never achieved it, you don't know how great it really is and just brush off people who promote its greatness. What else is there if we can't at least be enlightened and go through life with deeper knowledge and levels of thought?

Today is Halloween. I have to get some candy before it's too late! We have been procrastinators this year and haven't gotten anything but a little bag of chocolate eyeballs and some candy corn for ourselves.

The cats are acting crazy right now; they are chasing after one another in the den, galloping around the room and hiding behind furniture. They take a quick break for 2 bites of food and are back at it again. Then yowling to go outside since it's so pretty out today. I don't mind them hanging out in the backyard, but I am a little on edge if I can't see where they are, if they are hiding under a shrub or have turned the corner of the yard. I have had both of my cats run away on separate occasions and do not enjoy running after them, or worrying that they are getting run over by a car or getting scooped up by another person in the neighborhood who will then keep them without posting signs or calling the vet's number on their tag. Some people think I (and others like me) are crazy but ... my animals are like my kids. I don't have human children to know what that feels like, so those of you who are offended by my comparison can go off with your internal dialogue about how sacred parenthood is and how your kids changed your life and finally gave you meaning and that you would stand in front of a Mack truck for them ... I respect that though I have to say if your life was meaningless before your child came along, then something is wrong with you. But in the absence of human children, my cats are my babies. And I love them. If they run away, I'm scared; if they never came back, devastated.

And yet, we wrap them up in rugs just to be silly ... can you see the disgust on her face? 'Stupid humans' ... If we ran away, I think she'd be thrilled!

Carmen burrito. So cute, and yet so vicious.

This morning I slept in again. It was nice; though I hate feeling like I've wasted part of my weekend just sleeping. It feels so slothful. Anyway, I got up and made some coffee (coffee = functionality!) and whipped up an omelet. Eggs, salt and fresh-cracked pepper, then some chives and a handful of grape tomatoes, whole and a small sprinkle of cheese. Best Sunday brunch-fast ever!