Gobble Gobble
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Thanksgiving – also Grandma Snicketts’ 78th birthday.
The morning brought the Silverspoons and Snicketts to Christ Presbyterian for a Thanksgiving morning service, after Denae served breakfast to the clan at her place, including OLeif and Collette. This was all after Relevance, OLeif, Kitts, Curly, and Izzy worked up a piece for the special music that morning and there was discussion on gluttony in anticipation of the afternoon.
Later in the afternoon, preparations were made for a two o’clock dinner. The boys prepared tables covered in green tablecloths dug out for the occasion. Izzy brought out an old battered wooden chest of silverware and there were rarely used china dishes and wine glasses set at each place for wine or sparkling grape juice.
Meanwhile, Denae and Kitts prepared the fixings in the kitchen. And Collette washed dishes, arranged several vases of flowers, chopped walnuts, and other various things.
At two, the Snicketts returned with Carrie bringing her black guitar for Wallace to try out.
Soon followed dinner: turkey and glazed ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, stuffing, “froo-froo salad” (pistachio), and cranberries.
And before the pie was served – pecan, pumpkin, or French silk, Kitts and Carrie-Bri left for a walk to the ponds, Joe and Wally went off to write a song about “beer and French fries”, and the kids jumped on the trampoline for awhile (although how they could do such a thing after just stuffing themselves, Collette couldn’t quite figure).
Meanwhile, the guys had been on various topics throughout the afternoon and early evening – economics, theology, Austin, etc. Later, Relevance got tired of talking and went in to the living room to turn on the game before the pie was served. In order to make the television operate properly without static, Theodore attached a molded length of tin foil from the antenna to the fireplace, which the boys had created earlier.
The doors and windows had been opened all afternoon to the cool breezes and the late golden sun. Collette couldn’t recall a more recent mild Thanksgiving.
Then came family pictures which took plenty of goofies and laughs, not to mention that Carrie’s sweatshirt was covered in fuzz.
“Kitts threw cattails at me,” she explained.
But the pictures were finally snapped and the Snicketts returned home (except for Joe who was going to join Yaotl West, Bo Ernie, Magnus, Wallace, and Curly at a bit of a camp-out for Black Friday in front of Best Buy). Although it seemed that only Yaotl would be spending the whole night there. And Relevance and Kitts took off to spend some time with the Souths to finish the game.
OLeif and Collette picked up the borrowed Battlestar Galactica from Shepherd, back at the apartment, and returned to watch several episodes with Theodore, Denae, and Izzy until ten o’clock. OLeif helped himself to another plate of Thanksgiving fare. And Denae, OLeif, and Collette kept dozing off and on throughout the viewing.
Curly soon returned to say that the camp-out was getting rather boring, that they had decided not to play Risk, and that several policemen had come by after a call from the people waiting behind Yaotl who had had some words with the people in front of Yaotl. But that was another story…
Likely everyone fell asleep that night feeling very full and satisfied.