Aah, Thanksgiving! Time of customs, reminiscences, nostalgia, gatherings, family present or absent, fatigue. Speaking of customs and nostalgia, see below: I'm reposting my take on holiday customs. Cheers!I've loved making holiday dinners, to the point of being happily breathless when dinner's over and the floor is covered with paper, the furniture is adorned with food-based fingerprints as yet unknown to any juvenile authority, and the couches are upholstered with immovable football statisticians in snoring coma (a congenital condition attached to the Y chromosome).... well, there's a lot to be said for the gradual erosion of at least some cherished family traditions.
This year I'm not making dinner - the group is too small and we'd be living on leftovers until next spring. So I have made (gasp!) reservations. And a very very happy Thanksgiving to you all.
BUT ANYWAY:
Our family is delightfully multi-cultural (but you knew that), so perhaps some of these traditional events may have once been yours, too:
THE FIVE TANTRUMS OF THE IN-LAWS
THE RITUAL RECITATION OF FOOD ALLERGIES AND DIETETIC SENSITIVITIES (often but not always a responsive reading)
THE MEAL-TIME VISIT OF THE BALD UNCLE WHO NEVER BRINGS PRESENTS
THE FOUR MULTI-CULTURAL QUESTIONS:
THE FIVE TANTRUMS OF THE IN-LAWS
THE OH, SO MERRY MERRY SEATING REARRANGEMENT (an all-American folk dance)
THE MEAL-TIME VISIT OF THE BALD UNCLE WHO NEVER BRINGS PRESENTS
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| um, not exactly our house |
THE FOUR MULTI-CULTURAL QUESTIONS:
-- is there garlic in this?
-- she puts garlic in everything
-- she puts garlic in everything
-- is there garlic in this?
-- I can taste the garlic
-- I can taste the garlic
-- is there garlic in this?
-- anyone can taste the garlic in this
-- is there garlic in this?
-- I don't know why noone else can taste the garlic
-- I don't know why noone else can taste the garlic
THE CRUEL BUT NECESSARY REVISITING OF FAMILY RECIPES FROM GENERATIONS PAST
(included here: deafening resumptions of the Lard/Chicken Fat Feud and the Great Butter/Olive Oil Vendetta)
THE LOUD AND PERSISTENT INTERROGATION OF SINGLE WOMEN ABOUT THEIR LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
(included here: deafening resumptions of the Lard/Chicken Fat Feud and the Great Butter/Olive Oil Vendetta)
THE LOUD AND PERSISTENT INTERROGATION OF SINGLE WOMEN ABOUT THEIR LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
THE DISSERTATION AND DISPUTATION CONCERNING THE PROVENANCE AND EVENTUAL DISPOSITION OF THE HOLIDAY SILVER AND SERVING DISHES
(a sharing of memories of the sacrifices made by our or your or
someone's ancestors to provide the ungrateful & unappreciative
with a complete service for 12 plus bread-and-butter plates &
2 extra cups, which will pass to the one descendant who really
truly - trust me - doesn't want them)
(a sharing of memories of the sacrifices made by our or your or
someone's ancestors to provide the ungrateful & unappreciative
with a complete service for 12 plus bread-and-butter plates &
2 extra cups, which will pass to the one descendant who really
truly - trust me - doesn't want them)
THE DEPARTURE BEFORE DESSERT OF THE SILENT COUSIN WHO ARRIVES ALONE, WITHOUT GIFTS.
THE DARING MAN TO MAN CHALLENGE, in which the World's Greatest Expert on Everything explains in great detail, mispronouncing all names, how wars should be won, to Gallant Nephew who is just back from Afghanistan and doesn't like loud noises. Also known as the Familial Duck and Cover.
THE ORGAN RECITAL OF THE COMATOSE SPORTS FANS (featuring Uncle *** on the nose flute and Grandpa ### on the intestinal tympani)
Anything ring a bell?
Anything ring a bell?
We don't do thanksgiving here but I wish you a great holiday weekend and tell us what it's like to eat out on a day like today over there.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Naomi! Thanksgiving in a restaurant, chosen correctly, is lovely - mind, we didn't have any teenies this year. Usually, there's an abbreviated menu which features roast turkey and 3 or 4 other mains, including a vegetarian choice. The parade of labor-intensive side dishes is abbreviated as well. Someone else does the dishes and scrubs the pots. Thanksgiving dinner, at least on the East Coast, is timed to begin sometimes in the afternoon, bearing in mind football preferences, travel schedules, chronically late arrivals, chronically early arrivals, the impact of mulled cider on the cook... I wouldn't do this for a large group, but for 4 people the restaurant was a good solution. 4 people plus phones, that is, we had calls from across the country and from some of the nicer and some of the more horrible places in the world.
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving!!! Hope you are doing well. For me, it's the short but much needed pause before the madness of finals and my last few weeks in New York. I am heading back to Toronto at the end of the semester. Hope to see you one more time before I go back! Take care, Louise
ReplyDeleteLouise, what an amazing adventure you've had! Yes, I'd love to get together, let me know where and when!
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you and your family, WFF! We are on our own this year- the 4 of us. But, my son, home from college, wants a "home cooked" meal- so no reservations : )
ReplyDeleteRing a bell- the sound is deafening! We do , however, often have the addition of people who indulge in a self serving, aggressive game of parent purchase power-i.e. SAT scores, vacations, club teams, etc. They would probably appreciate the Daring Man to Man challenge!
Happy Thanksgiving, Knit Yarns! Competition is always an insidious feature of yearly gatherings - weight loss, cars, geez, I remember two academics sniping at one another's parking spaces! Himself's cousin was married to a guy who saw offense and insult in everything, and the picture of him lurking intently waiting for an opportunity to point out how rude and inappropriate he found, um, almost anything, wasn't pretty. What a relief when he took early retirement and they relocated to Florida.
DeleteClearly, we have the same family. Reservations are always a good idea. Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving, Jen! The restaurNt solved a lot of problems, and we relaxed and had a good time.
DeleteWe were 26 at a niece's; she pronounced no one else can get married or have kids as there will be no room, which kinda screws my kids.
ReplyDeletethe herd may be thinned as time passes, sooner or later someone will have to go to inlaws etc etc
ReplyDelete