My Most Memorable Thanksgiving...

I was going to say my favorite Thanksgiving, but that might hurt feelings, and I'm already engendering enough bad Karma by not going to my sister's house today.

Just a note. I loved Thanksgiving as a kid, although as I grew older, I saw faults with the day with my family that started this... well... withdrawal that I now enjoy. Then ,for several years, as my family was not as kind to Joe as they could (should?) have been, I withdrew and even traveled on that day. I have had some wonderful Thanksgivings with strangers.

After my sister's children were born, I appeared again on the scene. Family had changed, and now included children who were my own little niece and nephew. I did, however, volunteer to do the dishes (as I don't cook or bring food). I liked that.

Anyways, one of my main 'complaints' about dinners in my family is the timing. I'm going to go out on a limb here and let you all know that Thanksgiving dinner should never be served after 3 PM. There. I've said it. My reasons are simple. The longer you wait the more you drink and eat before the EVENT. If it's served later, people tend to be both hungry and full of snacks and booze. You sit down to dinner at 5:30 or 6 (or later), shovel a boatload of food in your mouth, have a cup of coffee, talk for 10 minutes and go home, usually leaving behind a mess worthy of Chernobyl. It's cold. It's dark. You're full of tryptophans and sleepy and uncomfortable. What fun..

Now... since I've just scratched the surface of my feelings about this, let me switch to one of the memorable ones.

One of Joe's sisters lived about 60 miles from us, so we went to her house once for Thanksgiving. They were Italian, and had a traditional Italian dinner (that's what they told me!). This included even more food than usual, but the memorable part was the timing.

The first course started around 11 AM. The antipasto was first. Lots of meats and cheeses and stuff and some great bread. Then there came a break. Watch football games, take a walk around the neighborhood (remember, this is California and it's always nice), whatever.

The next course was meat. I think it was ham and some great side dishes. Eat, talk, watch TV, walk, nap... whatever..

Next course was either the lasagna or turkey. Either way, they comprised the next two courses, served over a 5 to 6 hour time span. In between there were conversations about the great food, the great company, the great game, the great neighborhood, the lousy eucalyptus trees (which were 'in heat' and smelled HORRIBLE) or whatever.

The entire day was relaxed, fun and when we went home we were sober, NOT stuffed, and loaded with leftovers!

My kind of day..

So... if I ever get to Oregon, y'all are all invited to my only Thanksgiving dinner... You'll have to come for a few days, as it might just be an overnight dinner..

or longer..

!