Happy Turkeys and All That Stuff

Thursday, November 24, 2011
In which the second-to-last holiday of the year is celebrated amongst 28 people in two settings…

Thanksgiving One.
9:30 worship service at Christ Presbyterian, which included the rest of the Silverspoon family arriving in batches. Relevance from Texas, Kitts (with longer hair again) from Ohio, and Curly from Tennessee.

Thanksgiving Two.
12:40 was at the South’s, after picking up the ham, sweet potato casserole, ‘green stuff’, Curly’s girlfriend of one year, and new opinions on Abraham Lincoln, to join the braised turkey legs, mashed potatoes, and Cashmere’s homemade rolls. OLeif’s chocolate chip cookies were added to the spread of pies: pecan and coconut cream.
A football game was on.
A pile of stringed instruments in the corner.
And conversation around the table, limited for Puck (except to find out from Bluebell and Kitts how the piano and accordion had been lifted to the loft), who was eager to follow the cat around the house for some entertainment.
He also found it necessary to share the idea of an indoor dual staircase/slide, an idea given him from Carrie…
“Well, I want a fireman pole in my house,” said Relevance. “Highly dangerous.”
“Yeah, dangerous,” OLeif agreed. “With knives on it.”
And the expected volley of compliments back and forth between the two rooms of floral china and glasses of lemonade, from cooks to cooks.
Puck was eager to explore. However, every item in Bluebell’s house seemed to have a very specific purpose, story, or memory behind it. And fortunately the time was concluded with nothing having been broken, marred, or unintentionally disfigured. Not even after Izzy and Puck had sent a candle stand flying, almost causing Bluebell to overfill the coffee maker. No harm done.

And shortly before 3:00, over to the house for the final: Thanksgiving Three with the Combs family amongst tables of flickering candles and lace tablecloths.
News was shared betwixt them:
Word from Uncle Mo: the China deal had been temporarily shut down by St. Louis legislation.
Linnea was teaching herself how to play the ukulele…
“She takes it up on the roof a lot,” Mom said.
Musical chairs was being conducted in the living room…
“You can’t sit there!”
“That’s Uncle Mo’s seat!”
“There’s no space over here.”
“Move over!”
“Get out of my seat!”
“That’s Uncle Mo’s spot!”
“Scoot down!”
Cashews.
The moms were trying to keep people out of the kitchen…
“You are only allowed in here if you are a woman and 25 or older,” Mom announced.
Linus was busy filling a glass for Grandma…
“I’m neither of those.”
“Yeah, you really don’t qualify,” Aunt Petunia told him. “Get out!”
Aunt Day and Uncle Bobs were moving back permanently from Australia within a week or so. Aunt Day had had her fill of life ‘down under’. Now it was Uncle Bobs’ turn to partake in a new culture.
Stuffing, turkey, ham, cranberries, Hawai’ian sweet rolls…
And some beers in the fridge; Grandma asked for a sample.
During dinner, Puck watched Linnea pass her fingers back and forth through the candle flames.
“Can I do that, Lila?” Puck asked eagerly.
“Only big people can do that,” she replied.
“And that is why I can never have kids,” Linus laughed. “I’d be like, ‘Sure, try it out.’”

Following an early dinner at 4:00, Mom, Aunt Petunia, Linnea, and Puck took a walk on the nature trail in the twilight. Carrie-Bri and Lucia were busy with business plans. And everyone else watched Rockford Files with amazing lines like, while a man was being held up in an elevator…
“OK, pal, you’ve got twelve stories to tell me yours…”
And…
“Stop batting your eyes like that. You’re gonna get a muscle spasm.”
Groans.
Speaking of groans… there were the usual ones, and exclamations of pain, following the ‘largest meal of the year’…
“I’ve gotta go lie down in the living room,” Grandma said. “It’s too painful.”
“I know,” Francis replied. “Isn’t that the best feeling?”
And so Grandma rested on her back on the piano bench.
Linus exited to the basement to read… and apparently take a nap…
And when the walkers had concluded their journey, they returned for fat chocolate cake and jumbo pumpkin pie. This included a fire in the grate in the back yard.
There were already nibblers around the chocolate shavings…
“Hey! Get away from that cake!” Dad commanded.
“I do what I want!” Joe exclaimed.
Punch fight.
Grandma was snoozing on the couch…
“Oop… Grandma had one too many,” Joe teased.
The fire was smoking bunches.
OLeif was smashing out some tunes on the mandolin, or the ‘woman-olin’, as Aunt Petunia put it.
“This music makes me want to dance in a circle,” said Lucia. “It sounds kind of Jewish.”
“Oh, like this?” Dad asked, spinning around with his hands in the air.
[As Linus had already noted earlier: Thanksgiving at the Snicketts House of Borderline Behavior.]
“Hey, where’s Linus?” someone asked.
“Sleeping downstairs,” Joe answered. “I threw something down the stairs and yelled, but he didn’t wake up.”
“You should go tickle him,” Lucia advised.
And somehow, as the conversation inevitably seemed to do, the subject of eyebrows was addressed.
“You should wax them,” said Lucia.
“Tried that,” said Carrie. “Doesn’t work. They’re too bushy.”
“He cries when Carrie plucks them,” Francis teased.
“I do not. My eyes just water. Besides, I want them to grow out a little before they leave. Billy and Lonna need some wiggle time.”
“Eew.”
“Hey, whenever I’m talking to a girl, I have to be like, ‘Hey! Eyes down here! At my eyes, not my eyebrows.’ It’s so inappropriate…”

And… home.
OLeif hit up the movies with Magnus at ten.

In other news…
OLeif had pretty much been called ‘Jesus’ all day. It was his own fault for owning a beard as long as California.