Thanksgiving Twice
I don't know what it is about my life that is lending itself so much to compare and contrast lately.
Wednesday, November 20th was Thanksgiving dinner at my family's house. For some strange reason they decided that I was going to cook Thanksgiving Dinner. Me. The biggest non-cook in my family. My sister's husband wants to be a chef. My mom has cooked for years. Her husband also cooks. I don't even heat things up in the microwave. I don't cook. I eat out, and I order in. And yet, it was unanimously decided that I should be the one to wield the potholders this year. My mom had a list of foods to be cooked, three quarters of which I don't even like, much less know the ingredients of.
I was instructed to come to my mother's house right after papers, so I did, and they weren't even up yet. I have a key, so I went in. I decided to use their computers, and since I didn't want to disturb anyone when I turned on a light, I shut the door. I had barely turned the computer on when Al opened the door, and started to ask me what I was doing. Apparently he thought I was my mother, up and about, because he was not wearing any clothes. I didn't want to see that, and I'm not giving thanks for it. That's not the way I wanted to start thanksgiving; it's not the way I'd want to start any day, and I hope I never have to see that again.
My mom finally did get up, and we started a lovely process of: Do this, Do this, Do that, as she systematically walked me through stuffing, bagging, and roasting a turkey. It would have been faster and easier to do it herself. Then there was going to be a lot of waiting till it was time for other things, so I went home and took a nap. When I came back, it was casserole time. Thankfully, the casseroles were already assembled, all I had to do was put them in the oven. We had the traditional green bean casserole with those onion crip things, and a corn mash thing. The turkey was done, but nothing else was, so we turned the roaster down to warm, and started on mashed potatoes and peas. These I actually know how to do. Mom warmed the rolls, while I set the table. My brother wasn't there yet, and my sister was on her way when everything was done. My mom said we wouldn't wait for them, we'd go ahead and start.
So mom and Al and Bubba and I started our Thanksgiving dinner. My sister showed up with her roommates daughter, and they joined us. We went through the obligatory "what are you thankful for" run down, which turned into a farce when it was my sister's turn. She's thankful she got her son back, as if it wasn't her fault she lost him in the first place. And then on to the Christmas planning, which is always the second part of thanksgiving. This is when I developed a massive headache. I left shortly after that to go deliver chinese food, which was so much more fun. At least there, I have the possibly of getting tips to keep me going.
I love Christmas, and I hate planning it with my family. I love Christmas, and sometimes I hate celebrating it with my family. I don't know why I have such a hard time with my family and what are supposed to be celebratory occasions. I don't know exactly what expectations I'm carrying around, or why they never seem to meet them. I don't know what it is about me that can't be satisfied with what is, instead of always wishing things were they way I think they should be.
The next day, actual thanksgiving day, I went to Sparkles' family thanksgiving. We got up, got dressed, stopped off at a store to pick up some sparkling apple cider as a gift, and got to her mom's house just as dinner was ready. No cooking, no setting up tables or chairs, no setting the table itself, no chores at all, just sit down and eat. There were too many people for one table, so they had a table set up in the living room. Everybody was joking about that being the kids table, but the youngest person at it was seventeen.
We had a lot of fun, talking and joking. It was so easy to be there. No pressure, no planning, no family drama. After dinner, I was taking pictures of everybody, trying to get good shots of different people. I got some good pictures of Sparkles with her brothers, and a great head shot of my knight. He actually called me sweetheart in front of his family.
In the end almost everyone had left and Sparkles, my knight, Spunky, and I were hanging out using our laptops and the wifi. We were IMing each other from the same couch, and cracking up over stupid jokes. At one point my knight told us to look at the adults, not to say anything, not to smile, just to look very serious at them, so we did, and Sparkles' aunt freaked out. It was so funny. She was like "Why are they looking at us? What? What's wrong?" The best part about it was that none of us looked at each other first, as soon as the IM came through, we just did it. It was great.
We took home enough leftovers to eat for a week, and Sparkles stocked up on toilet paper, so we're covered there. It was just a great fun day, and I enjoyed it so much more than my family's Thanksgiving. I don't know if it's because I'm not responsible for anything or what, but I really like going to Sparkles' family events. Either way, I'm glad it's over. Now we just have Christmas to get through.
Wednesday, November 20th was Thanksgiving dinner at my family's house. For some strange reason they decided that I was going to cook Thanksgiving Dinner. Me. The biggest non-cook in my family. My sister's husband wants to be a chef. My mom has cooked for years. Her husband also cooks. I don't even heat things up in the microwave. I don't cook. I eat out, and I order in. And yet, it was unanimously decided that I should be the one to wield the potholders this year. My mom had a list of foods to be cooked, three quarters of which I don't even like, much less know the ingredients of.
I was instructed to come to my mother's house right after papers, so I did, and they weren't even up yet. I have a key, so I went in. I decided to use their computers, and since I didn't want to disturb anyone when I turned on a light, I shut the door. I had barely turned the computer on when Al opened the door, and started to ask me what I was doing. Apparently he thought I was my mother, up and about, because he was not wearing any clothes. I didn't want to see that, and I'm not giving thanks for it. That's not the way I wanted to start thanksgiving; it's not the way I'd want to start any day, and I hope I never have to see that again.
My mom finally did get up, and we started a lovely process of: Do this, Do this, Do that, as she systematically walked me through stuffing, bagging, and roasting a turkey. It would have been faster and easier to do it herself. Then there was going to be a lot of waiting till it was time for other things, so I went home and took a nap. When I came back, it was casserole time. Thankfully, the casseroles were already assembled, all I had to do was put them in the oven. We had the traditional green bean casserole with those onion crip things, and a corn mash thing. The turkey was done, but nothing else was, so we turned the roaster down to warm, and started on mashed potatoes and peas. These I actually know how to do. Mom warmed the rolls, while I set the table. My brother wasn't there yet, and my sister was on her way when everything was done. My mom said we wouldn't wait for them, we'd go ahead and start.
So mom and Al and Bubba and I started our Thanksgiving dinner. My sister showed up with her roommates daughter, and they joined us. We went through the obligatory "what are you thankful for" run down, which turned into a farce when it was my sister's turn. She's thankful she got her son back, as if it wasn't her fault she lost him in the first place. And then on to the Christmas planning, which is always the second part of thanksgiving. This is when I developed a massive headache. I left shortly after that to go deliver chinese food, which was so much more fun. At least there, I have the possibly of getting tips to keep me going.
I love Christmas, and I hate planning it with my family. I love Christmas, and sometimes I hate celebrating it with my family. I don't know why I have such a hard time with my family and what are supposed to be celebratory occasions. I don't know exactly what expectations I'm carrying around, or why they never seem to meet them. I don't know what it is about me that can't be satisfied with what is, instead of always wishing things were they way I think they should be.
The next day, actual thanksgiving day, I went to Sparkles' family thanksgiving. We got up, got dressed, stopped off at a store to pick up some sparkling apple cider as a gift, and got to her mom's house just as dinner was ready. No cooking, no setting up tables or chairs, no setting the table itself, no chores at all, just sit down and eat. There were too many people for one table, so they had a table set up in the living room. Everybody was joking about that being the kids table, but the youngest person at it was seventeen.
We had a lot of fun, talking and joking. It was so easy to be there. No pressure, no planning, no family drama. After dinner, I was taking pictures of everybody, trying to get good shots of different people. I got some good pictures of Sparkles with her brothers, and a great head shot of my knight. He actually called me sweetheart in front of his family.
In the end almost everyone had left and Sparkles, my knight, Spunky, and I were hanging out using our laptops and the wifi. We were IMing each other from the same couch, and cracking up over stupid jokes. At one point my knight told us to look at the adults, not to say anything, not to smile, just to look very serious at them, so we did, and Sparkles' aunt freaked out. It was so funny. She was like "Why are they looking at us? What? What's wrong?" The best part about it was that none of us looked at each other first, as soon as the IM came through, we just did it. It was great.
We took home enough leftovers to eat for a week, and Sparkles stocked up on toilet paper, so we're covered there. It was just a great fun day, and I enjoyed it so much more than my family's Thanksgiving. I don't know if it's because I'm not responsible for anything or what, but I really like going to Sparkles' family events. Either way, I'm glad it's over. Now we just have Christmas to get through.