Thanksgiving

It should be no surprise to anyone who knows me has spent more than 2 minutes with me that Thanksgiving is my absolutely favorite holiday. A whole day devoted to food? Yes, please. As I've gotten older, I've had to (grudgingly) adjust to changing traditions. However, despite new dwellings and new diets, there are a few tried and true traditions that have not changed. Here's how the day normally goes down:

1. Watch The Parade. If I was a better daughter, I would help my mom in the kitchen, but I'm not. My real responsibility in the family is to tell everyone when the holiday season has officially begun... i.e. when Santa gets to Macy's. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying...or unAmerican. Also, I'm responsible for making judgmental comments the rest of the family can ignore:

Me: American Idiot? More like American Idiotic...
The Rest of the Family: What are you talking about?
Me: That stupid musical. Those guys standing there with guitars singing that Green Day song that gets stuck in you head for weeks at a time. No dancing, no costumes, no...Are you guys even paying attention now? You know what? Nevermind. I'll tell you when Santa gets here.

2. Make cranberries. It's important to look like you've contributed to some aspect of meal prep. Chop something, stir something, whatever it takes to be able to say you helped. The more you can say you helped before the meal, the less likely you are to be recruited for post-meal clean-up. Of course, Mom's in the kitchen doing dishes as we speak. I'm such a bad daughter.

3. Watch National Dog Show. This is a tradition that I don't really understand nor do I find all that entertaining; however, nothing says LoL more than rich people having a contest about who's pet is bred better. Respect.

4. Stir something...even if it doesn't need to be stirred. This is the point at which I also utter the words, "Is there anything I can do?" Word of caution: Know your surroundings before asking this question. Ideal conditions involve a reasonably clean looking kitchen, nothing mid-chop, and a relative air of calm from The Matriarch. Otherwise, you may be answered in the affirmative.

5. Eat dinner. This year's menu included Turkey (much better than mine), soy-sausage dressing, gravy, cranberries, root vegetables, brussels sprouts (also better than mine), mashed potatoes, salmon, and salad. Delicious!

6. Sit around and talk about what we're going to do next because we can't just sit here and watch TV all day. Ummmm....I may have been adopted.

We've eaten, cleaned up, skyped and cell-phoned the fam that's not here and now it's time to sit around and just be thankful for full bellies, warm houses, and loving families and friends...and maybe eat a little ton of dessert.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone! May your hearts be thankful, your days be leisahly, and your glasses be full...of um chocolate milk!

Fondest regards,
The Lady