It's been raining all day! I got out around 3:00 to go get a prescription refilled, but I've been hunkered down inside the rest of the day.
My sister and her husband are driving down from South Carolina to spend Thanksgiving. Also, my sister is cooking Thanksgiving dinner at my house again this year. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to sucker her into doing this.
When my mother was alive I used to drive up to St. Louis on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. That's why it seemed perfectly normal to be on the road last Saturday. Of course the drive to St. Louis was only 540 miles and the drive back from Texas was 830 miles.
After Mom died, Cindy invited me to have Thanksgiving dinner with her family. They used to have it over at her parents' house but after the Thanksgiving when her mother's stringbeans got burned and actually looked like strings, it was moved to Cindy's house.
Two years ago we moved it back to Cindy's parents because they were having a major construction job done on their house. No construction work in Atlanta can be done without Mexicans and they don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Michael and Cindy were awakened Thanksgiving morning to the sound of salsa music. Michael was very philosophical about it. He said, "I don't take Cinque de Mayo off work so why should they take Thanksgiving off?"
In the South, Thanksgiving dinner is dinner which means it is served around noon. Back in Missouri, where I grew up, we ate around 7:00 PM. So, after we finished up our meal, Michael and Cindy did not want to return to their house until after the workers left for the day, so they came over to my house and we drank some Port that Michael furnished.
Last year, I asked if my sister would be willing to come down and cook Thanksgiving dinner for Cindy's family (I would pay for everything) and she graciously agreed. This is great since my sister makes a fantastic Thanksgiving feast. She'll also make an apple pie, which is the best apple pie in the world.
In all the years I have known Cindy's parents, I did not realize that they were Dimocrats. I did know that Cindy's father admired Jimmah Carter but I thought that was because Cindy's father volunteers for Habitat For Humanity. I made the mistake once of disparaging Jimmah Carter. Fortunately I did not say very much. Cindy's parents are sufferering from PEST (Post Election Selection Trauma), and she has asked me to refrain from talking about the election or the war and if her parents bring the topics up to politely say that I don't want to talk politics on Thanksgiving.
It's really raining now. I don't envy them driving down from South Carolina. I'll owe my sister big time for this.
Posted by denny at November 23, 2004 04:42 PMOkay, no talking politics at Thanksgiving, but can you at least have the turkey legs pinned in such a way that the bird looks like a "W"? I bet you can. Nobody else would have to know, and you'd feel better.
Get a pic and post later if you can pull that off.
And I appreciate your comment about Thanksgiving being served around noon. I still have that battle with my yankee/hippie wife (born in Mich, raised in Calif) whose family has dinner at supper time. And dont even ask about the missing yams.
Posted by: daniel on November 23, 2004 05:44 PM