Thanksgiving Again

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Ivy’s birthday – it seemed that Nicodemus would be having eye surgery that same day, and so the likelihood of her needing to celebrate it another day, seemed high.

Meanwhile, it was Thanksgiving Day for the Combs and the Snicketts. So Collette made yet another potato casserole for the gathering, while Joe was at work, Rose was helping the youth ring bells for the Salvation Army, and OLeif put up the little Christmas tree in the window. It was practically the size Mom had wanted to put up that year instead of the large one. However, there was revolt from Carrie all the way down to Linnea, and so they put the old 1960’s model in the basement and purchased a lovely new large tree for the living room.

And apparently the bell ringing at the grocery store had brought out four of the youth – Ben-Hur, Augustus, Rose, and Molly. At the end of their shift they had made a run into the same grocery store for medicine for Ben-Hur, whose arm had contracted little bumps. (Carrie was convinced that he, too, was allergic to the cold, as she had had the same thing happen to her), after she picked up Rose from the silo back at church.

Come afternoon, OLeif and Collette arrived at the house about an hour before the Combs pulled up in Uncle Mo’s new red Monte Carlo. So while all the guys gathered round to check out the engine and interior, etc., Carrie-Bri had climbed up on the roof and had begun unscrewing all the old chipped red light bulbs.

Lucia waited below to catch them all and dump them in a bag which Collette held out for her.

“Ow!” Lucia was knocked on the fingers by about every other one.

Though she did catch almost the other half. One landed with a crash in the already full bag of red light bulbs, and the glass spewed up like a geyser, thankfully all landing back in the bag. Then Carrie refilled the sockets with new shiny green bulbs, which Dad had supplied in a box while Collette and Lucia talked about her new job at Banana Republic in Plaza Frontenac and names for the baby.

Meanwhile, the boys played catch in the yard until Joe got hit hard in the leg, and that was the end of it. Joe continued to limp for the rest of the evening before he left for the movies later that night with several of the guys. Linus opted to remain behind and watch Ice Age 2 with everyone else and for s’mores around the bonfire.

Before dinner though, Carrie took Lucia on another photo shoot, this time on the roof, and for Lucia to share some secrets. And Collette and Linnea played a couple of rounds of mah-jongg.

Then came dinner, which OLeif, Collette, Carrie, and Lucia ate outside under the Italian lights – and there was plenty of food as usual – turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, biscuits, green beans, jello salad, and later angel food cake and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

Before the evening had ended, Carrie had to take off for a concert given by the Pink Spiders at Mississippi Nights, before she had known that Thanksgiving was being celebrated on Saturday instead of Thursday.

And Dad showed Uncle Mo and Aunt Petunia all his pictures from Australia, seeing as Aunt Day was just moving there herself. Aunt Petunia and Lucia were going to visit her the following summer. And Dad highly suggested that they visit New Zealand while there, given that the reports of it from Uncle Hilario, Aunt Corliss, and Jashub, were that it was absolutely beautiful.